Will to Live
by Maji
Summary: As Lightning McQueen fights for what's left of his career, Blaire fights for what's left of his life. Since the discovery of humans living in the mountains outside of Radiator Springs, normal is now entirely relative.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Pixar owns Cars and they are awesome. I own Seth, Joe, and the others that were not in the movie. Chow!

Notes: Alright, a few didn't get this y'all. This is a continuation of the last story Hardest Burden to Bear. Since it takes place roughly six months after the end of the last I felt it was better to start an entirely new story rather than jump six months in the middle of the last. And yes! Y'all found the movie refs in the last one! Let me see if I can work a few into this one!

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Steady roar thundered 'round the mid afternoon light, sun washing down on a sea of blacktop and color. Ground rumbled just a bit underfoot as a flood of vehicles made their way around the track the roar of engines only cut by the screams of those in the stands.

Race day... There was no better day in the opinion of some. It was the highlight of the week and by far what some lived for. Brightly colored vehicles roared around the track at top speed as ground on each lap whipping its way around was slowly gained.

"Stay off the wall kid or Chick'll put ya in it again." Doc scolded as the group surged around the track. He wasn't sure why but for some reason the kid had been clinging to the wall most of the race. Last season Chick would have taken advantage of that...

This season for whatever reasons Chick seemed to have decided to lay off. However when Lightning went around the track looking for trouble it would either be Chick or someone else that put him back in his place...

Doc was worried. The last few races Lightning had been this way. It was as if he were barely hanging in there. Rather as Doc was starting to fear, he had been so anxious to get back on the track and now that he was there he was afraid to jump back into the thick of things.

"Lightning get in there, if you don't get into the pack now you're not gonna be able to pass them up later."

Lightning shifted lanes almost instantly, swerving towards the inner track. He sped up and came up behind, trailing the thick of the back, however; that seemed to be as far as he was going. He was just barely hanging in there... With only two laps to go he was about to come in at the bottom of the pack.

Doc gave a frustrated sigh and shook his grill a bit. Race was already over for Lightning. Unless something dramatic happened in the next few minutes... Like say every vehicle in the race suddenly running out of fuel but for Lightning... They could go ahead and start packing up...

"Maybe I'm pushing him to hard..." Doc mused softly as he turned the mic off. One more lap went around as those gathered in pit row watched in silence.

"No Doc, ya know how long you've taken and how careful you've been with how he continues." Flo soothed from where she was parked close by.

"Yeah man. I think Lightning he just got the jitters ya know?" Ramone put in.

Doc could only nod slowly in some form of agreement. They were right...

He really hated to admit it but they were right...

"Hey Doc what's that?" Doc chuckled softly as Seth popped up somewhere behind him, the Mustang's weight supported on rear tires as front tires had popped up to rest ontop of a low concrete wall. "That's the security booth." Doc answered, using his rear view mirror to see just what it was that had caught Seth's attention.

"Seth watch the race." Sheriff scolded, pulling a soft chuckle from Doc.

"Ah lay off of the boy Sheriff. This is all new to him." He pointed out quietly, watching as the last lap of the race began to unfold. It was the first time Seth had been to a race... Honestly enough the first time he had ventured away from Radiator Springs. Which made for a Mustang that was the preverbal bundle of energy. His jumping around and getting into everything had even worn Mater out who was now settled down at one side of the pits, quietly watching the end of the race.

At the beginning of the last lap things truly started to kick up. A while new definition of speed began to develop as the entire field began to pick up speed and fight for position. Lightning seemed to focus on that, picking up speed along with them and throwing himself into the race. For the first time since the first time the pace car pulled away he actually looked competitive. Doc switched his mic back on, watching carefully as Lightning carefully came to the inside of the pack, and shot forward.

"There you go Lightning... Find the groove that works for you and go with it." Doc encouraged as Lightning surged around the track. Though starting so late in the race it was to little to late... In a field of forty Lightning barely scooted by tenth place when he slid his way 'cross the finish line.

"Good, you're on the right track Lightning. Meet up with us in the pits." Doc called, over an excited cheer behind him. Tenth was nothing to sneeze at... At least it wasn't last. Again...

Down on the track Lightning heaved a heavy sigh and rolled up towards pit row. It was starting to become down right humiliating... The first race after such a long absence could of course be written off... After all he had still been trying to get into the groove of racing again. The second race he hadn't even finished... Now a good couple months into it he was falling way behind. At this rate he would have to push every race hence forth just to break into the top ten.

"Hey Kid!"

Lightning sighed with a brief cringe, slowing down a bit. Since he wasn't exactly performing Chick Hicks was having an absolutely great season. He was already predicted to take home the Piston Cup and the season was only a quarter of the way through.

"Hey Chick."

"Kid ya alright?" Lightning blinked and stopped for a moment as Chick pulled up alongside him. Of all the things he expected Chick to say that hadn't been one of them. "Am I alright?"

"Yeah, you're driving for scrap out there... Everything goin' ok?"

Lightning gave the older car a rather odd look. He looked honestly concerned... "Why do you even care Chick?"

"Ouch" Chick commented, a roll of his eyes given, continuing on his way after a moment paused as he waited for Lightning to catch up.

"So what's up?" Chick pressed, causing Lightning to sigh softly as they headed in the direction of pit row.

"Shouldn't you be heading for winner's lane or something?"

"Nah, came in second. I skidded out on the wall just before the finish line and the RPM car managed to slide past."

"Ah well he's a good car." Lightning mused, a light nod given.

"Mhmm. He's got some talent. He was doing very well last year." Chick mused, gaining a slight nod from Lightning.

"So kid where ya headed now?" Chick questioned gaining a slight shrug from Lightning.

"I don't know, home I guess. I figure I'll hear about it from Doc over that race..."

"Nah... Though I would step back and relook at what you're getting into. Trust your crew chief... Mine's always right... Unfortunately... That reminds me though how old are you kid?" Chick mused, cutting a glance over to where Max was parked, calling out instructions to the rest of Chick's crew.

Lightning gave a slight blink to that, his frame tilting to the side. "Twenty..."

"Ah, shame. Was gonna ask ya if you wanted to grab a couple drinks with me and the crew. Next year maybe." The race car offered, a soft chuckle given.

Again that earned a bewildered blink from Lightning. Chick had been... Easy to deal with for the past six months. Now he was down right friendly and likable... Who was he and what had he done with Chick?

"Yeah, maybe next year. Congratulations on the second, it was a great race Chick."

"You to Lightning. Tenth ain't nothin' to sneeze at." Chick pointed out, turning to head back to his crew. "Take care. Give me a call if ya need anything." The old stock car called.

"Thanks Chick... For ya know, not being you." Lightning teased as he headed off towards his own pit crew. Chick only shot him a smirk heading off on his own way.

The entire encounter had been strange to say the least. He wasn't the only one... Junior had stopped and asked him before the race if he had noticed anything strange about Chick. Hell that was the entire topic in the back before the officials had come in. Chick was actually... Nice... What was up with that? The race car steeled himself off, eyes closing for a moment as he headed for his own group. This was going to be interesting... Lightning didn't make it far before he was surrounded by Radiator Springs residence. All excited and bouncing around for the end of a race.

Lightning flinched a bit and sighed, a quick glance shot in Doc's direction.

"Come on Lightning. Get back on the trailer and lets head home. We have a long drive ahead of us and you and I need to have a long talk." Doc offered gently, heading off back towards the trailer.

Ah... As if he didn't know that was coming...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daybreak was touching the sky before the very tired line of vehicles pulled into Radiator Springs.

Mac tiredly pulled up beside Flo's cafe and let the back door of his trailer drop, which had Lightning hurrying to get off, Doc not all that far behind him at a much more quiet pace. Doc had used the long drive to talk... And talk... And talk...

It would have been better if he had yelled about Lightning's performance in the race. Then he could argue that he flat out didn't have to put up with this and go quiet. It's what he had always done when Stone had come down on him for something or other.

However, Doc as he had found had been nothing but understanding. Is there a problem? Is it the training schedule? Are you tired? Is something hurting? What's bothering you? The parental concern was flat out more than he could take. Even his own mother wasn't that concerned over him. It was creepy.

The rest of the group were all breaking up shuffling towards their homes for some well earned sleep. Across the road he could see Seth quickly moving off towards the station repeating over and over the word bed as apparently that was the only thing on the tired Mustang's mind. Behind him Sheriff was trailing along yelling a clear 'I told ya so' to his son. Well he had told him... Seth had been to excited to follow the example of the rest. The only ones who needed to be on the track bright and early had been Doc and Lightning. A fact that was just fine considering the fact that Doc and Lightning would be able to sleep on the way home in the trailer.

The rest had slept in until noon, an hour before the race was to start to be able to make the long drive home after the race. Everyone had followed the suggestion except for Seth who had been way to excited, insisting on coming to the track. Something none of them could blame him for. On the way home Doc and Lightning had offered to let the Mustang crowed into the trailer with them, but the Mustang had pointed out he could take a little drive and refused. The result was a very tired Mustang that would probably not be seen until well after noon. Maybe not until Nightfall... If he couldn't sleep then, then at least Sheriff could send him out on patrol.

At his side Doc gave a slow stretch, the old car grumbling something about being way to old to ride around in the back of a truck. He then headed off down the street towards the clinic, a light nod given towards the citizens who were starting to come out of their homes, and heading for work.

Things had certainly changed since Lightning had first come into town. Even in the past few months. Things always picked up just a bit during racing season. Tourists coming in, and so forth. Since Lightning had first moved into town things became down right busy during racing season. However, things had always slowed down again in the off season. This year about a dozen vehicles had actually moved to Radiator Springs and set up shop, therefore upholding a slight promise that they wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. The town had been cleaned up...

The construction of Flo's cafe had been completed. A good thing for the town since the start of the season since it meant that tourists had a fuel source and would therefore stay longer. A few more businesses had been filtering in as well. An older couple had reopened Lizzie's knick knack shop. It was nice to see it up and running but it just wasn't the same without Lizzie...

There was also a strange British car who had reopened the library, coupled with a rather nice little hot oil shop. Frankly, between that little car and Flo Starbucks had nothing on them...

Up on the hill the construction of Lightning's home was almost complete. Amazing since it had only really been going a few months. They did work fast... Until it was finished he was staying with Doc. Who still didn't seem to inclined to set him on on his own since the accident that had almost cost Lightning his life.

The race car gave a sigh and quietly headed over to Flo's cafe where cars were already starting to filter in. A young hatchback Flo had hired to help her out flitted back and forth between customers, filling orders and heading back into the back every now and again to place them.

At one of the far pumps Sally was parked, talking softly to Red. A rather one sided conversation but Red looked like he enjoyed the company all the same.

Lightning quickly pulled forward and pulled up beside her, a light nudge of greeting given.

"Lightning! You're back!" She nearly yelled, a smile crossing her grill. From the other side Red smiled happily, the fire truck offering his own nod of greeting.

"Yep, I'm back. How's things been goin' on here?"

"They've been very quiet actually." Sally explained, her voice then dropping just a bit. "It's started again... You know from the mountains..."

Lightning blinked a bit at that, a quick glance turning in the direction of the mountains. "The howlers?" He questioned softly, gaining a nod from Sally.

"I'm worried... You know what started last week don't you?"

Lightning flinched and gave a heavy sigh. "According to Joe they've been up there for decades. I don't think one hunting season is going to give them any problems. I'm sure they're use to it."

"I hope you're right." Sally mused worriedly, then cast a glance in Lightning's direction. "I saw the race on T.V..."

"Ah..."

"You did well. I mean tenth in that big of a race is still very good."

Lightning sighed and gave a slight nod to that, giving her side a light nudge. "I know... I'm gonna go get a bit of sleep. Want to go for a drive later?"

Sally smiled and nodded, offering the race car a little nudge in response. "Sure"

The response from Lightning was a smile and a light nudge fair-well as he pulled off, heading back for Doc's clinic. What Sally had said actually made him forget about his own racing... Tenth wasn't something to fret over. Though despite what she had said he now worried...

Six months prior they had received the shock of their lives... Seth and Sheriff had actually found a human... A human! Stealing fuel from Flo's cafe... The human and her vehicle companion had been put on trial like any other car. However, that night they had managed to escape the enclosure. No one knew exactly how. Sheriff had come to Doc the next morning, explaining to him that he had taken over for Seth and that he didn't know how the bios and the car had escaped.

It was Sheriff's theory that in that split second that Seth and Sheriff had been distracted with giving the brief report on how things were going they had managed to escape. He had also warned everyone under the penalty of a night in lock up not to say anything about the previous night's events to Seth as apparently Sheriff's son was taking it very personally even though it wasn't his fault.

That had been the end of that. They hadn't heard anything in months... But now...

Lightning paused in his tracks. Off in the distance over the mountains he heard it. A low howl like sound. Ranger...

He chuckled softly and started his engine once more, quietly rolling forward though just as quickly killed it again. He had just barely heard it over the sound of his own engine. Silently he strained his hearing looking for that sound again. There it was... Just as distant as the howl had been. Maybe more... A blast from a shot gun...

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"Alright, so check this. If you had to choose. I mean had to choose, what would you rather do? Drive with a rabid weasel in your back bed, or a pissed off skunk."

"Dude, what kind of a question is that?"

Mid afternoon was just starting to come up as the two trucks picked their way through the underbrush. They had been coming up to the mountains of Carburetor County for years. Ron and Bill Parker were brothers... Once a year they came up to these mountains to camp and hunt. It's where their father had come up with their uncles... It was where their grandfather had come up with their great uncles. It was where their great grandfather had come up with their great great uncles. It was tradition... One day they would bring their sons up... The old hunting range would never die so long as there were bio deer and wild tractors in those woods...

"It's a good question. Now answer it." Ron complained, drawing a soft chuckle from his brother Bill.

"Obviously I'd pick the rabid weasel. I mean, who wants to stink."

"Yeah but... A rabid weasel?"

"Both creepy if ya ask me. I can do without that bio stuff..." Bill mused with a shrug, adjusting the rack that held his shot gun to his side.

"Yeah but man, think of it this way, what if-"

"Shh!" Bill abruptly cut his brother off as his he stopped in his tracks. The soft whine of the electric backup engine he had been fitted with for more stealth hunting died and all that was left behind was silence.

"What is-"

"Shh!"

Ron fell silent as he stared in the direction his brother was. In the distance there was a break in the trees. It was a good quarter of a mile ahead of them but the shot was still good. A lumbering creature was moving along on four legs.

"What is that?" Ron questioned slowly as Bill flipped the switch on his gun rack, letting the sights for it drop into place, over his windshield.

"I don't know but it's huge... This thing is going on the wall..."

"Bill... That thing looks deformed..." Ron mused worriedly. It was huge. It walked on four legs and it looked like it had a long neck and head. However, that wasn't the strange part. The strange part was that from it's back a... Growth of some sort shot up, high over its head. The thing was massive...

"Well then we'll sell it to that place that buys weird crap like this... Now shut up before you scare it." Bill whispered taking careful aim, tire settling on the switch that would catch the trigger.

It was a domino effect that followed. There was a loud snap to their right. Bill swung around, the rifle losing its target as something large and metallic barreled through the trees. In the distance the thing they had been targeting came up on two legs, forelegs thrashing wildly and oddly enough the growth detached and hit the ground with a thud. However, that was not their current concern.

In the commotion Bill hit the trigger, the rifle letting out a mighty blast, fire briefly sparking from the muzzle. Whatever it hit in the bushes gave a screech of rage and pain and took off through the underbrush. In the distance the growth that had been attached to the massive creature abruptly got up, running on two legs as it took off through the underbrush.

However, it would go unseen, as the two trucks backed up. Something massive burst from the bushes and took off, tires squealing through he dirt, and throwing clods of dirt at the two trucks as it took off. It was low to the ground, silver... A sports car...

The two trucks were left in silence, staring at each other and wondering what had just happened.

"Bill..." Ron finally muttered, nodding towards the ground. Bill followed his brother's gaze, a look of horror crossing his features. There was a wide puddle of fuel and oil where the car had been a few moments ago. They had hit it...

"Bill... We shot a car..." Ron muttered, rising panic coming to his voice.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well I gotta say Seth. I'm impressed." Seth only smiled sleepily at his father as he pulled up beside Sheriff on the mid afternoon patrol.

"You know you don't have to do this. I can handle it." Sheriff pressed, gaining a slight shake of Seth's grill.

"Naw, I'm alright Dad. I can pull call tonight to if you need me to." Seth offered, gaining a soft chuckle from Sheriff.

"It's so cute that you think you'll be able to stay awake long enough." Sheriff teased, causing Seth to roll his eyes.

"Dad..."

"Seth get some sleep. Don't worry about it. About one maybe you can come and relieve me."

The Mustang chuckled softly with a slight nod. Well... Who could argue with that.

Rounds never took long. It was from city limits, to the road going up the base of the mountain and around the sides past the outer limits of town and back again. It was always the same routine...

"Hey dad did you hear shots a little while ago?"

"Yeah. Up in the mountains... Hunting season started up."

"Do you think... They'll be alright?" Seth questioned slowly.

Sheriff paused, for a moment casting his gaze up into the mountains. "I'm sure they'll be fine..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What are we gonna do, Bill what are we gonna do?"

Bill sighed heavily at his brother's panic attacks as they attempted to follow the trail. Neither one of them were sure why the car had run... Oh yeah they did... They had shot him. However, by now they should have been able to catch up to him. However, the trail had just... Stopped. They had been searching for him for a half an hour and had found absolutely nothing. No car... No strange creature... No nothing...

"Ron! Calm down!" Bill snapped, stopping in his tracks to stare at his brother.

"Calm down? We shot someone! We're gonna be in jail until we rot!"

"No we're not Ron. Think about it... We're on a hunting range. We're hunting things... What kind of idiot hides in bushes and then jumps out like that at a hunter with an already set up shot? This was an accident. Now we obviously can't find him." Bill rationalized, his attention turning over the cliffs. They had searched so in depth they had made it up to the cliffs over wheel well, and had a pretty good view of the valley by now.

"There's a small town down there. There's got to be some local law enforcement or something down there. Now that car is gonna need help. So one of us needs to stay up here and keep searching while the other goes down there to find some people to come help."

Bill rationalized, gaining a slow nod from Ron. "I'll keep searching." Ron quickly offered. "I took that class... I know some first aide stuff for when I find him."

"Good. See? Now you're thinking. I'll go down into the valley and find the local law or a doctor or somethin'... You keep lookin'. Got your link?"

"Yeah right here."

"Good... Keep it on... I have a feeling we're gonna need it."

Ron nodded with a heavy sigh and gave his brother a light nudge before they parted ways. Ron further up into the mountains and Bill back down towards Radiator Springs...

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Mid afternoon had broken into late afternoon by the time Sheriff and Seth rolled back into Flo's cafe, Seth looking rather well dead on his tires as he slumped down a bit. Sheriff shot him a somewhat amused smirk every now and again, which Seth would only scowl at. Apparently sleep depravation didn't exactly sit well with Seth.

"Hey Doc." Sheriff greeted as Doc came up beside the two, the old car nodding a quiet greeting.

"Things quiet on patrol?"

"Mhmm. Caught a speeder up near the highway. Old Man McCormic's tractors got loose again, but we just shooed them right back in and closed up the way out. Frank didn't get out this time so everything turned out alright."

"Good" Doc muttered slowly as Sheriff rattled off the daily report. That was it. The people that were starting to move into town thankfully just were not trouble makers. They seemed to only want a quiet little life while others seemed to want to simply bask in the life of seeing every day their favorite race car.

In the distance the sound of an engine revving touched the air as the three cars perked up a bit. Lightning swept expertly through town, Sally hot on his tail, the two laughing hysterically as Sheriff glared at the passing vehicles.

"You'll be getting that ticket latter boy!" Sheriff yelled, drawing a soft chuckle from Seth and Doc.

"Don't complain Sheriff, that's the fastest I've seen him move in a while. Halfway wish Sally was on the track when he..." Doc faded off a bit, a rather thoughtful look given as he let out a soft 'hmm'.

"Thinking of putting Sally's fender in the race for Lightning to chase?" Seth questioned, the comment followed by a soft yelp as Sheriff smacked him with his tire.

"Rude" Sheriff commented, though even he had to give a rather soft chuckle.

"No, but I do have an idea..." Doc mused slowly, a smile creeping across his grill.

Sheriff laughed softly, his frame tilting curiously to the side. "Doc what are you-"

"Dad?" Seth questioned, cutting Sheriff off abruptly. Sheriff's gaze swept in the direction's Seth did towards the station. A pickup was coming into town. Fast...

"Looks like that's gonna be another ticket written today." Sheriff commented with a smirk, cranking his engine, though paused when the truck suddenly hit the breaks, literally skidding his way down the street and pulling up sideways, his back end swinging around as he stopped in front of the Station.

"Well it looks like the kid is either bold or stupid..." Doc commented softly. The pickup wasn't large. A little Chevy S-10 by the looks of him. He looked like he was a burgundy in color but his paint had been covered with the camouflage vinyl that hunters wore. Gun rack was connected to him, the rifle pointed forward and ready to go rather than folded back behind his cab where it should have been in the middle of town.

He hurried up to the station doors and tried the door, looking a little confused when it didn't open. In any other town it was a public building. In Radiator Springs it was Sheriff's home.

"Looks like trouble." Sheriff muttered, shifting into gear and rolling towards the station to see what was up as the truck began rapping on the door with one tire.

"Hey son, came into town mighty fast." Sheriff called as he rolled up to the panicked looking truck, who swung 'round on him. Thus leaving Sheriff right in the cross heirs of the rifle.

"Now son..." Sheriff stated slowly, more than a little nervous with the barrel of a rifle pointed at him. "I could throw you in the impound lot right now for carrying that thing in town. Now you fold it back and put it away."

The truck blinked at him for a moment as if Sheriff were speaking another language but slowly it seemed to work its way in and he quickly folded the gun back. "Sorry... Listen, I really need you to come with me." He rushed, a slight blink given from the old patrol car.

"For what?" Sheriff questioned slowly, though was at least willing to listen.

"I shot a car up in the woods."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Panic... It was amazing how far and how hard one could push the body when panic was a factor. A swift get away had taken him miles into the woods in no particular direction. Vaguely he remembered that he had tailed Joe for a time until she disappeared into one of the underground network's entrances. Then he had to worry about his own hide...

He had to keep going or he would have dove into the underground tunnel and to safety himself along behind her. It had broken through his panic that he was leaking oil and fuel... Badly... Already he could feel his engine start to sputter. He could feel that his fuel pump was working harder to push oil through his systems because there was less of it... Still he pushed on. Pushed on fast and hard... He was leaking fluids which meant he was leaving a trial. A morbid trail for them to follow. A trail that would lead them right to the tunnel system if he tried to go into it and to safety. He had to keep going. Air was getting harder to pull through his engine... He must have been leaking coolant to. It was getting harder to keep his engine cool.

It crossed his mind that his engine should have given out by now. However, it was amazing what panic could drive the body to do. He didn't want to die... He truly did not want to die. Not hunted down like some animal. Not brought down by a hunter...

Would anyone even care?

Hey remember that crazy journalist? A hunter brought him down up in those mountains...

In retrospect he should have handled things differently. Gotten a warning to Joe... Threw those hunters off the trail... They wouldn't have shot at him if he hadn't startled them. He was a car like them. He could have chased them off. Claimed it was private property they were on or something... It had been seeing them with Joe and her horse in their sights that had caused him to quickly throw off the shot.

Panic... It did strange things to cars...

"Blaire!" Somewhere in the distance he could hear Joe calling for him. She needed to shut up... The hunters...

His vision was going dark. It was clouding... Adrenaline... It was an amazing thing. Brought on by panic...

He could feel his tires beginning to slow. He could feel himself beginning to slow... As if he were driving through deep sand, though he could clearly see the trail through the woods.

"I'm tired." He muttered to himself his mind becoming a bit foggy. He couldn't rightly remember why he had been panicking. It was such a silly thing... What was going to happen... Would happen...

"Blaire!"

"I'm here Joe." He muttered as he slowed to a stop in a small clearing. "I'm just going to take a little nap..." His mind was hazy. He couldn't remember why he had been going so fast. Maybe it was a race... Had he won? Of course he did. He always did. Joe's horse had nothing on him. He had more horse power. The thought made him laugh as he sank to the ground. His tires folded beneath him, his vision becoming a bit darker. Was it night?

"Blaire" The voice was spoken... Right next to him. A cool hand laid against his hood. Joe...

"Damn it Blaire..." She sounded sad. Why was that?

"David! Get the guys over here! We need to get Blaire underground!"

"How did you catch up?" Blaire muttered softy. He couldn't see her...

"You followed the river bed and circled around. It was easy." Joe muttered softly.

Blaire gave a pained groan as he considered that. He felt numb... But at the same time a dull ache was starting in his side. As the adrenaline wore off... That wonderfully numb feeling was going away. It was like a liquid fire was awakening in his side.

He cried out in pain as he felt himself being lifted up. Vaguely he was aware of two vehicles at his sides. Pressing against him. Lifting him to his tires and carrying him. Oh it hurt!

He yelled out as they started moving. It had to be done. Joe quickly swiped away tears and moved on ahead. Within' moments the woods fell silent again as Blaire was cast to the cool darkness, his vision fading entirely as he blacked out and they descended down into the tunnel system.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright son calm down and tell us what happened." Doc soothed gently, the truck in front of them physically shaking. Flo set down a cup of hot oil in front of the truck which he readily accepted.

"We don't have time for this." Bill complained. They had managed to get that out form him. His name was Bill. His brother's name was Ron. They were hunters.

"We need to know son."

"Fine... Me and my brother were up there hunting. We spotted a bio critter. I ranged it up for a shot and this... Dang fool came bustin' out of the underbrush at me. I already had the trigger ready for a shot so when I swung around on him the gun went off... I'm positive I hit him... It was a silver sports car... I'm afraid I can't give ya any more information than that... I didn't even get a good look at his face. All I can tell ya was that he was bright silver, and that he was a car, but not like a speed machine kinda deal. More like a..."

"Muscle Car?" Seth supplied slowly, gaining a quick nod from Bill.

"Yeah, that's it. A muscle car. Anyway we looked for him for about a half an hour. We figured he would need help and he wouldn't have gone far. We couldn't find him. So I left my brother Ron up there lookin... He has some first aide training... I came down here for help."

"Alright, that was quick thinkin... Doc we need to get up there and look for him I think." Sheriff reasoned, gaining a light nod from Doc, who turned to the rest of the town gathered at Flo's cafe.

"Any volunteers?"

Most of the town stepped forward, a few citizens unable to go trecking through the woods hanging back.

"Good... Sarge, you take a group and search near river. I'll take a group and go up the pass through the mines and Wheel Well. Sheriff you take the valleys... Billy I'm gonna need you to take a group and find your brother. Can you do that?"

The truck nodded and held up a link up unit. "I have him on the GPS..."

"Good... Alright everybody get in your groups and lets go."

The town was a bustle of activity for a moment as cars headed out into different directions though it was very short lived. Within' moments a full search party had been organized.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Is he alright?"

That sounded like a very stupid question... If he were alright would he be leaking fluids all over the place?

"No... The shot hit his central line. There's no exit wound which tells me it pinged around in there for a while."

That didn't sound good... And oh so professional... David really did need to work on his bedside manners.

"He's damaged a lot more than what I can do. He's going to need help. He needs a doctor."

"But we don't have one of those.."

He should have been worried right about now. They were talking about him. He realized that now. He was dying...

"We'll have to find one."

"Get him to the cabin. I'll take care of the rest."

Joe? Joe was going to take care of what?

"Getting him to the cabin is gonna be tough..."

"Get the others to help you. You can do it. I'll take Knight and see what I can do for him." Joe's voice was fading. It was getting softer and harder to hear. He couldn't tell if it was because she was walking away or if he was falling back asleep...

A little of both maybe. Blessed darkness covered him within' moments.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sheriff I may be wrong about this, but we don't even know if it was that Blaire fellow that they hit. Maybe they didn't even hit him at all. Maybe they just scared him and if that's the case we're not going to find him. We've already been over those woods three times over, you know that."

Sheriff sighed heavily and gave a somewhat reluctant nod. He hated to, but he had to admit. Sarge was right... In the early days after Blaire's great escape a small team had been set up to comb over the mountain range. Nothing had been found. Not even that cabin he claimed to live in.

"You're right Sarge but we can't just leave him up there to die if he was injured." Seth pointed out from the other side of Sheriff.

"Yeah but you can't keep those trucks here either for-"

"I'm not keeping the trucks here." Sheriff suddenly cut in, catching the attention of all. They had searched until night had fallen over the landscape. Now it was close to one in the morning, the only light the soft glow given off by Flo's cafe.

"I took their names, numbers and other information and put them up at the motel. I told them that in the morning we would look into more drastic measures to find the car and that if they wanted to they could stick around if not there's not really anything they can do so they are welcome to go home. They are not at fault in this. They just happened to be the ones who wound up mixed up in it."

"I imagine the knowledge that they possibly shot someone up there is weighing pretty heavily on them tonight." Sally mused softly.

"Hmm, from what I understand Billy is the one that pulled the trigger. I imagine it's weighing a bit heavier on him." Doc mused gaining a collective nod of agreement.

"Isn't there any way we can contact them?" Lightning questioned, though it only brought a round of shruggs.

"Fuel stopped dissapearin'... I don't know where they're getting' it now but they don't come down into this town anymore." Flo responded softly.

"Yeah but... Blaire said he bought a cabin. That should be easier to find shouldn't it?" Lightning questioned.

"You would think..." Sarge muttered. "Kid's got good stealth skills I'll give him that."

"I'm afraid we're just going through the motions of searching now." Doc suddenly cut in. "Those humans have been up there for decades possibly longer and we never even knew they were there. Obviously they're good at hiding. Thus they must have hidden Blaire just as well. We can only hope that if he's hurt they can help him or either get him the help that he will need."

"Lets just hope they're not willing to let a car die for the sake of keeping hidden." Sarge commented bitterly.

"I don't think they would do that." Seth suddenly cut in, a shake of his grill given. "That Joe person and Blaire seemed really close. I think she would do what she had to do to help him."

"I think he's right." Sheriff commented softly.

The group fell silent at that, quietly watching the clouds pass over head. Little by little the occupants of the cafe quietly bid their goodnights and moved off to their own homes to get some sleep before the day started again in the morning. Slowly the numbers dwindled until Even Seth quietly bid fair-well and rolled off down the street to his own bed.

By nearly three in the morning, Doc and Sheriff stood alone under the dim lights of the cafe. Technically it was closed. Flo had given up on them hours ago and tossed the keys to the place to Sheriff telling them to lock up when they were ready to go home. Otherwise there were cans of oil in the cafe.

"Sheriff" Doc suddenly muttered, breaking the hour long silence. "We ever figure out how they got out in the first place?"

Sheriff remained silent for a long moment, his frame tilting to the side. "Of the record Doc?"

"Of course..."

"Ya already know the answer to that."

Doc chuckled softly and nodded. "I figured. Seth's a good kid..."

"Yeah... He's started sleep walking. Or something... Talking in his sleep. Keeps talking to someone named Anubis."

"I wouldn't worry about it Sheriff. If the memories come they come. Otherwise he's a happy car."

"That's what I'm worried about. I think it would be better if they didn't come." Sheriff mused, gaining a slight nod from Doc.

"Figured that as well."

Silence fell over them again, the two watching the clouded sky that blocked out the normally very clear stars. It was strange weather, but it didn't look as if rain was going to come with it. It would be clear again by morning. Sheriff sighed and opened his mouth to bid Doc goodnight and head off on his own way but he was silenced by a very soft tapping.

The two exchanged a confused look and rolled out to the street, their attention drawn to the sound. There was something moving... The soft tapping were the sound of it's tires one at a time hitting the pavement. Doc frowned and exchanged another glance with Sheriff who could only shrug.

They both backed up a bit as the thing came closer, the massive thing seeming to be coming towards the cafe.

Only as the light of the street lamps touched it, did the both of them relax just a bit. It was a massive four legged bio animal. Sitting atop its back... Was Joe... As they approached the human girl lowered her head a bit, dropping the reigns in her hands and holding them up as if to show she was unarmed.

"Well if it isn't our fugitive..." Sheriff commented softly.

Doc was silent for a long moment before he gave a slow nod, staring the young human down. "I would assume this means that Blaire is in fact our gun shot victim?"

Joe let out what almost sounded like a whimper and nodded slowly.

"Where is he?" Doc questioned, gaining a very soft sigh from Joe.

"We can't bring him down from the mountains without hurting him..."

Doc nodded quickly, a deep sigh given. "Lock up Sheriff. Looks like we're takin' a little road trip."

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Pixar owns Cars and they are awesome. I own Seth, Joe, and the others that were not in the movie. Chow!

Notes: Yes I know I sucked with that last story and a little something called continuity... I'm trying to do better y'all, thanks to all who pointed out my mistakes. It's been a long time since I first started writing Death's lessons. It seems I've forgotten some of the little things such as Lightning's age that I decided on way back when. Actually in my mind Lightning's even younger than that, since he almost acts like a teenager. But in that sense if he were, there would have been at least one parent or guardian at the track with him. Anyway try and spot the biggest movie ref of all! Anyone? Anyone at all?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Up this way. Just a little further."

"That's what you said an hour ago."

Doc chuckled softly as Sheriff called back to the young human ahead of them, as they not so quietly trudged through the underbrush. In retrospect it was no wonder they had never been able to find them... No car in their right mind would try to go where they seemed to be headed. As it was multiple times the path had been entirely hidden. So covered over that Joe had been forced to dismount and physically show them where the path was.

"I was lying then so you would shut up about it."

"Well how do I know you're not lying now?"

Sheriff and Joe had been bickering back and forth for the past hour. It seemed the further they went, the shorter their tempers became. Which at the moment was holding it on a hair trigger since they had been moving for well over six hours. Dawn had just begun to break over the horizon. It was a trip that wouldn't have taken more than an hour, though with following Joe they couldn't drive more than what seemed like just a few miles an hour without forcing Joe to push her horse up into a run rather than the steady jog pace he had been going most of the trip.

"Because I'm not. We'll get there when we get there."

"Enough you to." Doc cut in, pulling up close to the flank of Joe's horse. "Joe this is a very long way out. It must take all night for a round trip. It doesn't make much sense that you came to our town to fuel. Didn't you burn more than you were getting?"

"No, not really. Remember Ransom doesn't take fuel either." She pointed out, lightly patting the jet black horse's neck. Aside from that we're going up mountains. It's a lot faster to get around via the underground tunnel system and we have our... Other methods to... Anyway we've already long since driven past the main entrance to the tunnel system."

"Then what the hell are we still driving for?" Sheriff questioned, gaining a chuckle from Joe.

"We're not going to the tunnel system. We're going to Blaire's cabin."

"Alright now I get why we couldn't find a tunnel, but a cabin should have been obvious. I've never seen a cabin up here." Sheriff commented, drawing another chuckle from Joe.

"You're a county Sheriff aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Sheriff ventured, gaining another nod from Joe.

"There ya go. You might not have realized it in the middle of the woods but we crossed over into Dawson county about thirty minutes ago. Which means you might not know Blaire, but he pays his taxes, utilities, and anything else he might need in Dawson county."

"So he's not as recluse as he claims?"

"Oh he never claimed to be recluse. Though just because he's forced to go into town about once a month doesn't mean he stays very long."

"Alright I'll give you that..." Sheriff mused. "But what about the power situation? If he's getting power why can't you get power out to the tunnel system or whatever it is?"

"Because someone would notice the strange power fluctuation and come poking around. We can get power from Blaire's source but only if we have to. Aside from that through taking care of us he's financially hurting. We don't like to take advantage of poor Blaire." Joe explained as her horse approached a river and plunged right through.

Doc and Sheriff stopped in their tracks, staring nervously at the water as Joe glanced back. "Just a little to your right. There's a rock ledge there. I know it's kinda hidden, but you should be able to drive across it. Ransom can't because he'll slip." She explained, letting her horse wade through water that came up well past the horse's shoulders and covered even Joe up to the waist.

Sheriff and Doc exchanged a long glance and in the end Sheriff was the brave one of the two. He tested the water with one tire, a slight flinch. It was freezing! It also came up to his undercarriage... Though she was right. He could drive across it without getting bogged down. Doc was right behind him, the current hitting their tires as they crossed as quickly as possible. They were already on the other side as Joe guided her horse out of the water... Who was having fun wading through the stuff.

"Sorry. Ransom likes the water. Sometimes it's hard to get him out. It's not far now."

"Again, I don't believe you." Sheriff complained, drawing a soft chuckle from Joe.

"Fine, don't believe me. You'll see soon enough." She commented trudging on through the thick underbrush.

"So what was it that made Blaire want to stay so hidden anyway? I'm certain his stay at the mental hospital wouldn't have taken that long if he played his cards right..." Doc mused, a slight nod given from Joe.

"According to Blaire the place he was at was pretty bad. He's pretty adamant about not going back. Aside from that he was having a few problems before that whole thing started that I think he was pretty happy to get away from."

"What kind of problems would drive him away like that?" Sheriff questioned pulling a shrug from Joe.

"I don't know. He said it was personal so we left it alone."

"You never questioned further than that?" Asked Doc, another shake of Joe's head given. "None of my business."

A strong and steady sound rose up, causing the two vehicles to tense and Joe to move on just a bit faster. As they moved the realization struck of just where they had heard that sound before... It was a dog barking. Ranger.

"And we're here!" Joe announced, letting Ransom slide his way down a steep hill as Doc and Sheriff picked their way around. They ducked through heavy bushes, bright floral patterns dotting the clearing they had stepped into.

The cabin itself was quaint, but still rather amazing. A small stone home, set deep back in a cluster of trees, flowing with the surrounding nature rather than disturbing it. Weeping willows and tall oaks framed the property, what clearing there was landscaped in floral patterns, what looked like grape vines and honey suckle working their way up the side of the house. In the light wind of the morning chimes sounded as the wind moved the wind chimes on the front porch.

"I take it he landscapes?" Sheriff questioned softly, gaining a soft chuckle from Joe.

"Not really... He up keeps. When he found the place nature had kinda taken it over. So he cleared out some and left the rest. Sort of let nature have it the way nature wanted it." As Joe spoke she rode forward, dismounting in the middle of the yard and tying her horse to the side of what looked like a hitching rail.

She then jogged her way up to the front porch, foot hitting the lever that pulled open the garage style door. As soon as it was open a massive streak of black and tan fur came barreling out, making a bee line for the two vehicles that had been following close behind Joe.

"Ranger halt!"

The dog skidded to a stop, still growling, hackles raised as it stared down Doc and Sheriff.

"Stand down Ranger." With that simple command the dog backed off, still growling and walked stiff legged around the side of the house and out of sight. Sheriff quietly sighed and moved on, followed closely by Doc.

The inside of the house was just about the same as the outside. Natural woodwork and stone walls made up the interior, potted plants rather plentiful around the house. Apparently Blaire had a thing for plant life. The house opened up into a living area, a small kitchen just off of it, through a set of french doors another room. One of the doors was propped open just a bit and that was where Joe headed, pushing open the doors, a worried frown etched across her face.

The room turned out to be a bedroom, which was currently quiet save for Blaire and an older human woman sitting beside him, tending to the wound that had been created by the blast. Which looked severe...

The shots that hunters used these days were powerful. A hole had ripped through his side panel and from where Doc stood he could catch a very brief glimpse of engine. The hole was about the size of a baseball, and fluids where steadily leaking from the injury though it seemed to have slowed. Judging by the towels and blankets tucked in around Blaire's side, all soaked with engine fluids someone had been administering some first aid, other than the older woman sitting level with his grill.

This was worse than Doc thought... "How are his vital signs?" He questioned softly, gaining the attention of the old woman.

"His breath is very shallow and weak. I can feel a pulse but it is growing very slow. He is also hot to touch."

Doc nodded quickly and moved forward, carefully picking his way around the old woman to gently examine the wound. Amazingly enough, proper field first aid had been done. Someone had located the damaged tubing and tied it off, applying pressure to the damaged points. Through that process the organic bios in the rubber and metal would slowly start to seal off the injury, as the fluids thickened a bit in those areas to form a clot until the process was complete. Unfortunately Blaire was losing more fluids than he was able to stop.

"Is he gonna be ok?" Joe questioned softly from behind Doc, pulling a heavy sigh from the old car.

"I don't know yet. I'm going to need a few supplies..."

"I can go back and get um Doc." Sheriff offered, gaining a slight nod from Doc.

"I need some things from my office. I can help him for now but this is severe..."

"How bad?" The old woman questioned softly, a light hand running over Blaire's ice cold hood.

"I don't know yet ma'am." Doc explained, turning his attention to Joe for a moment. "There's no exit wound. Which means that when the bullet lodged in there it ricocheted around until it found something solid to lodge into. Most likely his engine."

"Which means really bad... Alright... Sheriff I can take you to the road which will be faster, but it goes down into the middle of Dawson County until you hit 66 and can return back the way you came."

Sheriff made a face at the thought and sighed heavily. There were a lot of things he would have rather done that particular day than deal with the Dawson County Sheriff...

"We're going to need Mac." Doc muttered after a few moments. "We need to get him back to my clinic."

"Who's Mac?" Joe questioned nervously.

"Lightning McQueen's driver. He's a rig. He can get Blaire, over the mountains and back into town."

"Doc we can't have anyone else coming to poke around up here..."

"Well then what do you suggest?" Doc snapped irritably.

"We have some supplies. It's not much but it can help. Once darkness falls again we'll get one of our own people to take Blaire down the mountain." Joe offered, drawing a slow scowl from Doc.

"We can't afford to wait until dark. We need to get him down the mountain and to my clinic."

"Doc you don't understand... This isn't my choice to make. If we take him down the mountain we'll have to use the road. Our people are not going to be able to go on the road during the day. At night yes, but not during the day."

"What's the difference? At night or at day a bunch of humans trying to push a car is going to be noticed." Sheriff muttered, gaining a sour look from Joe.

"Look... Just... Trust me alright? Your world isn't ready for us. If we move him it has to be done under darkness."

"You're stubbornness and what you think our world is ready for as you put it is going to kill your friend." Doc snapped, though would only gain a slight sigh from Joe.

"Mine or yours? Doc I can't give up the location of my people. Going through the tunnels would be the only way to go during the day. I can't give up that much to you. I'm sorry but I just can't... Not even for my best friend."

Doc growled and quickly moved to Blaire's side, checking him over again. He could stop the fluid leak here... He was burning up. Radiator damage probably... If his radiator wasn't working then even his fuel pump would be generating to much heat.

"Alright we'll discus this later... Joe without forceps and other instruments I'm going to need your help. Get over here."

Joe nodded quickly and moved to kneel down beside Blaire. The Mustang blearily opened one eye then seemed to take into consideration that it was just to much work. Joe sighed and laid a gentle hand on his side.

"You also need to consider that here... I don't exactly have anything for him for pain."

Joe flinched a bit and glanced around. "We have Jack Daniel's brand fuel somewhere 'round here..."

"That might have to do... Sheriff you can go in the other room if you want." Doc called back behind him. Sheriff who looked just a bit squeamish about the fact that Doc was apparently going to start surgery nodded quickly and rolled his way out. The older woman that had been sitting with Blaire quietly got up herself and walked out of the room.

"Alright lets do this..." Doc muttered softly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Have you ever seen a dream walking... Well I did..."

Oh did that bring back memories... Sheriff blinked as he came back into the living room of the cabin. The soft singing was unexpected... He hadn't thought anyone else was in the house.

"Hello?"

The singing abruptly stopped, filling instead with a familiar growl. Sheriff rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "Alright Ranger you and I got off to a bad start, I'll admit that." He claimed as he came into the room. It was empty... Still though, there were plenty of places that a dog could slip under and hide...

"I don't want to fight you. I'm just here to help your friend Blaire. Though honestly I don't know if you can even understand me..."

The old woman from the room approached from behind, a soft chuckle given as she walked through the living room. "He can't understand you." She explained. "He doesn't speak, nor can he speak English."

"Then who was just singing?"

The old woman simply smiled and walked into the kitchen, humming as she went.

"Right..." Sheriff muttered, slowly lowering himself to the ground at one side of the living room. He had only been sitting parked for a few moments, waiting when there was movement on the other side of the room.

"Get tired of waiting around then?" Sheriff questioned softly.

Something small crawled out from behind an oak desk to one side of the room. A small human, bright blond hair falling down her back, bright blue eyes that seemed locked on Sheriff. Followed closely by Ranger, who shadowed his tiny ward.

"Well hello there." Sheriff greeted, the small human giving him a rather weary look. Humans were much smaller than any vehicle but this one seemed even smaller yet. Almost miniscule by comparison... The answer was on him in a moment. A child. Had to be...

"I'm not suppose to talk to you..." She muttered softly, coming up to stand in front of Sheriff with her hands held behind her back.

"I promise I won't tell anyone." Sheriff offered with a soft chuckle. "What's your name?"

"Jenny... Is it true you're here to help Uncle Blaire?"

Sheriff chuckled and nodded. "My friend Doc is somebody that helps cars who are hurt."

Jenny smiled and nodded, seeming content with that information. She sat down on the floor, a hand lifting to pet Ranger, who was currently staring daggers at Sheriff.

"What's your name Mr. Car?" Jenny suddenly asked, drawing a chuckle from Sheriff.

"Mark Carson. But everybody calls me Sheriff."

Jenny nodded a bit, quietly petting Ranger as they sat in silence together. Strange little child, she seemed rather content to sit perfectly still on the floor.

"So... Where are your parents?" Sheriff questioned softly, gaining a shrug from the young girl.

"I dun know. When I was little they went out on a supply run and didn't come back. Uncle Blaire takes care of me now."

"Jenny!"

The girl sighed and looked up as Joe came into the room, her hands firmly on her hips. "I told you to stay hidden."

"It gets scary under the floor all by myself!" Jenny protested, gaining a sigh from Joe.

"It'll be even scarier if I tell you to stay in there and you don't and you get taken to a zoo." Joe warned, shooting Sheriff a somewhat apologetic look. "Now leave him alone and go sit with Nanna in the kitchen."

"Oh she's alright Joe. I can look out for her for a while."

Joe looked a bit skeptical but after a few moments but nodded slowly silently heading into the other room to get what she had come in to get and left again. Sheriff chuckled and shook his grill as the child continued to gently pet Ranger.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What do you mean they're gone?"

Seth sighed heavily and rolled his eyes as he set back just a bit on his tires. "I mean they're gone! Dad never came home last night. I got up this morning to go on patrol and he was still gone. I've checked all over town and even in his normal patrol areas and he's just not here. I went to Doc's to see if he knew where he was and he's gone to!"

"Alright calm down Seth." Flo instructed, narrowing her eyes a bit. "It's not good for the currently only standing police officer to panic. Now, pull yourself together and think. Did Sheriff say he was going out of town?"

Seth blinked and gave a shake of his grill. "No... And if he drives up to Wheel Well or something he always lets me know I'm gonna be the only officer on patrol for a while..."

"Maybe he's just testing you Seth."

Seth gave a slight blink and tilted a bit on his frame. "I'm failing miserably..."

"Not if you pull it together and go patrol now git!"

Seth yelped and took off from the cafe at high speed, heading out on his patrols as Lightning pulled up into the cafe.

"Lemme guess... Can't find Doc?" Lightning sighed helplessly and shook his grill. "No... He wanted me to meet him up at Willie's Butte so we can get started preparing for the next race but he never showed..."

"Well... That's not like Doc... Still though I wouldn't worry. Go ask Sarge to help you practice."

Lightning let out a sound that was almost a whimper and shook his grill. "Not Sarge..."

Flo snickered softly and let a smirk cross her grill. "What's wrong? One to many off road trails for you? Alright Lightning why don't you go down to where Seth is patrolling and see if he wants someone to chase."

Lightning grinned and nodded, taking off to head down to the city limits.

"You know Sheriff hates it when you do that." Ramone commented softly, pulling a soft giggle from Flo.

"I know... Have you seen either of them?"

"Not since yesterday."

"I was afraid of that... Alright, if they're not back by tonight, then we'll worry." Flo decided with a quick nod, a nod of agreement pulled from Ramone. A little to early to worry just yet...

"Hey!"

Flo sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, turning around to face the two trucks that were coming up behind her and offered them a bright smile. "Can I get you boys somethin'?"

"No thanks ma'am. Where's that Doc guy and the Sheriff?"

"Oh I don't know sir. I think he might have gone out of town for the day."

The truck blinked at her for a moment as if processing that and shook his grill. "But what about that car up in the mountains?"

"Well sir I don't know. As of right now we can't really do much more... We've searched the entire area."

"Yeah but those woods are huge. You could go for days, what if we've missed something. Shouldn't the search continue?"

Flo sighed and nodded. "And it will. Though it's been a day sir. Sheriff says you and your brother were in no way responsible and you're free to go if you want."

The truck shook his head with a growl and nudged his brother. "There's a car hurt out there. If the Sheriff isn't interested in finding him, we'll do it ourselves... Come on" The truck nudged his brother again, the two hunters taking off at a fast click out of town.

"That's not gonna end well..." Ramone muttered, gaining a sigh from Flo.

"Doc and Sheriff picked the wrong time to go on vacation..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright put your hand here, and clamp that off there."

Joe gave a quick nod where she was, half way into the internal workings through the open wound on his side panel. It was a tight fit but she could scoot herself in up her waist, which at first had sickened Doc just a bit... However without a lift it was the best option. There had only been so much she could do through his hood.

"I got it."

"Good... I think that was the major leak. How are you doing in there?"

"I've got radiator stuff on me." Joe complained, gaining a soft sigh from Doc.

"That's not good... if we can't regulate his temperature we're not getting anywhere."

"What about ice?" Joe pulled her way out of Blaire to look up at Doc who looked more than a little confused.

"Ice?"

"Yeah. Ice. Ya know frozen water..."

"I know what ice is. How is that going to help us?"

Joe sighed heavily and leaned back against Blaire's side which was uncomfortably warm. "Well we need to cool him down. You said that the heat is dangerous on his more delicate parts that make Blaire, who he is. So we need to cool him down and fast. Stopping the leaks aren't going to do that, so why don't we get some ice and cover him in it. That should help shouldn't it? At least so he's stable so we can move him tonight."

Doc nodded slowly and set back on his tires. "Maybe... Normally this problem is corrected with coolant..."

"Yeah but we don't have coolant. You're a back woods, country doctor so act like it. What can we do with what we have?"

Doc gave a quick nod and quickly glanced around the room. "Soak a few wet towels in cold water and bring them here. Get some ice to..."

Joe gave a quick nod and headed out of the room, her voice ringing briefly as she yelled at someone in the other room. Doc sighed and shook his grill slowly, quietly looking over once more what needed to be done. The damage was extensive... Even if he managed to do all of the repairs he just couldn't promise the fact that contaminants were not in his system... Repairs were easy enough to make... Fuel, oil, and fluid had to keep regulating and flowing to his engine and fuel pump...

Without coolant he was way to hot. It was threatening to burn out other delicate systems that he needed to live. Doc gave a slow shake of his grill, his attention turning back just a bit as he heard Joe coming back in. Quickly he nodded, and lifted up Blaire's hood, so Joe could come in with the ice and towels. Carefully Joe draped the cold towels over Blaire's engine, steam pouring out as the cold met heat. She then poured ice over his heated engine, causing Blaire to set back just a bit even in sleep trying to get away from the freezing cold.

Joe flinched and laid a comforting hand on his side. "Will this help Doc?"

"We'll have to wait and see." Doc responded softly. "Lets get these leaks patched up a bit and go from there. Joe I'm gonna need those supplies..."

Joe sighed and gave a slight nod to that. "I can show Sheriff where the road is..."

"Good."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's not far"

"And tell me why I should believe you..." Sheriff groused softly from where he was following Joe up a gravel path.

"Because this time I mean it. Look."

Sheriff gave a slight blink as they came up on a dirt road, wide enough to be something well used. They weren't as out in the middle of no where as he had thought apparently.

"It's an old logging road. Not to many people come up this way anymore. If you take this North, you'll hit state highway twenty five. From there head east and you'll be back on sixty six pretty soon. It's maybe about an hours drive total."

Sheriff nodded a bit and sighed. "Alright... I'll take the same road back, though I have to ask. Why didn't we take this road to begin with."

Joe smirked and shrugged. "It would have been a lot longer for me to take the road on foot. Trust me if you could drive the way we took, it would cut your driving time in half."

Sheriff sighed and gave a nod. "Humans are slow on their tires..."

Joe rolled her eyes, smacking Sheriff's side panel as she sent him on his way. "Feet. Now git. And remember, make absolutely sure no one follows you."

Sheriff snickered softly to himself and threw himself into gear, heading off down the dirt road at a fairly fast click. So easy to rile that one up...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

High noon had crawled into place by the time Sheriff pulled back into Radiator Springs... Trip had been much faster without having to slow down for a human's pace even through the winding roads that wrapped their way around the mountains.

Luck had been with him thus far. He had managed to slip back into Carburetor county without attracting the attention of the other county's sheriff... The car was crooked as a dog's back leg and about as means as a snake he really didn't want to get into it with him today...

He had also been able to slip into Radiator Springs and into Doc's clinic without being seen... It seemed in his absence Seth had taken up the responsibility of patrols... Good boy. He was proud of the car. Now if he could just get his luck to hold up...

He sighed softly as he peeked out of the clinic at the streets. It was for the most part empty, which worked well for him... If he could time it right he could time it right he could get out of town without having to answer any questions...

Mater went by chasing after Lightning... And that was his chance. Sheriff crept out of the clinic and across the main road onto one of the very seldom used back roads. It wasn't even paved, and barely visible but for now it would do. Now his main concern would be avoiding Seth...

It should be simple enough... He knew where the main patrol points were after all so it should be easy enough to avoid-

"Dad?"

Crap...

Sheriff sighed and pulled to a stop, allowing Seth to pull up along side him.

"Where have you been all morning? I've been looking everywhere for you and you missed morning patrols. You never miss morning patrols."

"Seth, I know that. Keep your voice down."

Seth instantly shut up with a slight blink surprise.

"I know Seth... Now... I have something to do at the moment. I need you to go back to town and tell everyone that I went into the next town over to pick up something, and then I need you to take care of patrols for the rest of the day. Can you do that?"

Seth gave another blink and nodded slowly, clearly not buying into that. "Alright Dad but what's going on?"

"Seth I wish I could explain... But I really can't. Just trust your ol' man."

Seth gave a heavy sigh but in the end nodded in agreement.

"Thanks Seth. Don't worry, I'll be back later." Sheriff promised, throwing himself into gear as he headed off at a fast click down the back roads the way he had come.

Seth gave a deep sigh and only nodded, turning back around and rolling back to town.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doc?"

Doc glanced up from where he had been tending to Blaire, a bit surprised to see Joe worriedly staring out the bedroom window.

"I think we have a problem... Sheriff Dawson just pulled up..."

Doc gave a slight blink and looked up abruptly, more than a little surprised. "What would he want with Blaire?"

Joe sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "Who knows... Blaire lives out here all alone which in his opinion is as good enough as any to torment the poor car. I also think he has a suspicion of what we are..."

"Humans?"

Joe sighed and nodded. "Here... I'll keep the ice on Blaire. You go get rid of him." Joe jumped down from the dresser she had been perched on as she looked out the window and hurried back to Blaire's side.

"If you simply don't answer the door won't he go away after a time?"

Joe sighed and shook her head. "Not necessarily. He'll call it investigative work. Just don't let him intimidate you and you'll be fine."

Doc sighed heavily and tossed the rag he had been working with down, quietly rolling out of the room and into the living room.

By the time he was in the living room there was a loud rap at the door. So much for the local Sheriff just checking things out and leaving...

With a sigh Doc pulled open the front doors, and offered a bright smile in greeting. The local Sheriff was just a bit taken back, rolling back just a bit and looking a bit surprised. Well no wonder... Blaire was probably known in these parts for being anti social.

"Evenin' officer." Doc offered cheerfully, a light nod given. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm lookin' for Mr. Jacobs..." The officer stated firmly, drawing a slow nod from Doc. Doc always considered himself a pretty good judge of character... He didn't like this one. He was young, maybe mid thirties. A Crown Vic model.. The way he carried himself was of someone who was in the job for the glory. Not to help anyone... Young cop who was full of himself was what Doc saw in this one.

For a moment Doc had a difficult time even placing who Mr. Jacobs was... Though if he recalled correctly... Blaire had said he bought the cabin under his mother's maiden name. So with that in place it had to be Blaire.

"I'm sorry I'm afraid he's not available. He's a little under the weather. Can I help ya with anything?" Doc questioned, attempting to be pleasant.

"You can tell me where he is." Was the flat answer. "And who you are for that matter."

"I'm his Uncle." Doc blurted out. "As I told you, he's under the weather and not seeing anyone today. Now again. Can I help you with something?"

"Just with where he is. I have two panicking hunters that claim they shot a car very closely matching his description. With the spare chance that these two simply don't know what they saw, I have something for him to look over anyway. Now where is he?"

Doc sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. He knew those two would be trouble sooner or later... He couldn't hold it against them for wanting to help... However, he thought they would stay in Radiator Springs and keep up with the search. If they started poking around in the next county they were just going to raise a few questions...

"Well Sheriff I assure you, he's a bit under the weather but otherwise he will be absolutely fine."

Sheriff Dawson growled softly, looking past Doc for a moment, as if attempting to put together weather or not he could simply push his way into the house. Though whatever was about to transpire cut off abruptly as someone cleared their throat from the bedroom door. Doc spun around, more than a little stunned to see Blaire parked in the doorway. He swayed a little, just barely on his tires but he was up.

"Mr. Jacobs... Good to see you up. I need to speak with you." Sheriff Dawson stated flatly, gaining another growl from Blaire.

"Sheriff unless you have a search warrant get the hell off of my property..." Blaire stated flatly, leaning against the side of the door to hold himself up.

"Why Blaire, you do look horrible. I hope it's not catchy." Dawson commented with a slight smirk, causing Blaire to give another little growl.

"I'm not going to say it again Sheriff... Get out." Blaire repeated, lifting up as much as he could and hobbling back into the bed room.

"Well then. I can see I'm not wanted here." Sheriff Dawson commented with a chuckle. "When he's being more reasonable give him these will you?" The car questioned, dropping a packet of paperwork in front of Doc and backing up. "Take care"

With that the car was pulling out and down the driveway without a backwards glance leaving a rather stunned Doc standing in the doorway. Slowly he picked up the packet of papers, scanning over the top one. Some company that bought out property it seemed. Odd for a county Sheriff to be delivering. With a sigh Doc shrugged and closed the door, about to head back into the bedroom. Though he was forced to stop as a section of the floor abruptly lifted up, the rug lifting with it. A trap door... The little girl who had been hanging around the cabin all morning smiled up at him and crawled out, followed closely by Ranger, the two bouncing back into the kitchen.

Doc sighed heavily and shook his grill silently rolling back into the bedroom. Strange place...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sheriff sighed heavily as he pulled back onto the road, his gaze following Sheriff Dawson as he headed back on down the dirt road. Amazing what lengths one would go to, to avoid having to speak to a snake...

It looked as if he had been coming from Blaire's place... Not good... He sped up a bit on the dirt road, the somewhat hidden drive way coming into view within' a few moments. He carefully picked his way down it, the late afternoon sun just beginning to dip down below the tree line as he pulled up in front of the house. It had taken much longer than he thought it would.

Without a pause he hurried inside. "Doc?"

"In here Sheriff"

Doc's voice came from the bedroom, leading Sheriff to follow it with a deep sigh. He paused in the doorway, a slight blink given, more than a little surprised to see Doc helping Blaire back into bed.

"Blaire! You're awake"

Blaire only gave a weak smile to that, a soft grunt of pain given as Doc pressed what looked like ice wrapped in a cloth to the car's hood.

"He shouldn't be." Doc snapped irritably. "Blaire what were you thinking getting out of bed like that."

"I was thinking Sheriff Dawson was being stubborn and about the only thing that will get rid of him is making it very clear that you know your rights and you're not afraid of him." Blaire wheezed out, a soft groan given as he sank down onto his mat.

"He's got a point Doc." Joe commented from where she was again perched atop a dresser on the far wall by the window.

"That aside he should have never been out of bed. Sheriff did you get what I asked for?"

Sheriff gave a nod and silently held up the bag of supplies he had managed to get out of the clinic. "Doc since he's up shouldn't we be tryin' to get him to the clinic?"

"Not until after dark." Blaire muttered softly, panting through the pain as Doc and Joe applied more ice.

"How's he even awake anyway?" Sheriff questioned, his gaze turning to Doc.

"Temp came down. Joe had the idea to put ice on him... His temp being regulated a bit better probably has him a bit better." Doc explained softly.

"My mama use to put ice on my forehead when I had a fever." Joe put in happily.

"Well hell whatever works." Sheriff muttered, putting down the bag for Doc to get easy access to as he went back to work.

"Sheriff come help me with this. Sunset is only a few hours off... We need to call Dog so he can come pick y'all up..."

Sheriff blinked at the young human, turning around to face her with a somewhat puzzled look. "Dog?"

"Mhmm. Black Dog. We call him Dog..."

"And is this... Dog... A human?"

Joe smirked and shook her head a bit as she jogged out to the front room. "Nope."

"Alright... So he's another car."

"Something like that." She mused softly as she came into the living room. Jenny looked up from where she was playing quietly with Ranger.

"Jenny I need you to replace the rug when we go under alright?" Jenny smiled and nodded as Joe pulled back the throw rug in the middle of the floor to reveal a very large trap door.

"Huh... That's funny there's one of those in my office in Radiator Springs..." Sheriff mused softly.

"Mhmm... Why do you think that is? The previous Sheriff was good friends with our kind."

Sheriff gave a rather stunned look, causing Joe to chuckle and tug him along. "Come on. This way." She urged, pulling the trap door back and heading down inside.

"Alright our trap door doesn't go down this far..." Sheriff muttered as he followed down the steep ramp, a little flinch given when he heard the soft thump of the trap door being closed behind them and Jenny moving around up above to replace the rug.

"That's because he didn't have a human living with him. If he did he would have made it bigger. As it was, I think it was there for something else at one point... But my father can tell you a story about in the seventies when we were almost caught. My father was a boy then... He had to hide under the floor for a whole week when he got caught between Radiator Springs and the mountains when he was on one of his first supply runs. He didn't realize the importance of hunting season..."

"Huh... That was Sheriff McDuffy's last few years... I remember hearing something under the floor... I mentioned it to the Sheriff but he said something about there's no such thing as monsters and I felt so stupid about it I didn't bring it up again..."

Joe chuckled and grinned as they hit level ground, a nod given. "That's Sheriff McDuffy for ya... Dad said that he use to pull that mind stuff on him to." She mused and headed into the semi lit room. It looked like... Some strange cross between a communications relay and a child's bedroom. To one side, cut of by a divider was looked like a small child's bed. It looked to actually be a crib for child cars but he doubted any car slept in it. The walls had been painted bright colors as well as what looked like a fake window, lamps and other lighting sources to make the room brighter when turned on. Shoved up against another wall was another bed, though this one not quite as bright, and a chair with ski like things on the legs so that it could rock. Which was currently occupied by the old woman from earlier. She was rocking slowly back and forth though obviously asleep. On their side of the divider was an old computer and what looked like communications equipment built into the walls. Which was where Joe was currently headed.

"The girl lives down here?" Sheriff questioned with a slight tilt of his frame.

"Yep. Her and Nanna. Nanna helps Blaire keep track of her so he can come and go without anyone suspecting that he has Jenny down here. Just over there there's a tunnel that leads to a small grove that Blaire's cleared out since she obviously can't go play in the front yard very often..."

Sheriff only nodded a bit, a deep sigh given. "And Blaire's put all this together?"

"Well... Sort of. We're the ones that suggested he look into this house. It was a bit run down back then... He's fixed it up and made sure everything was working again. Sheriff McDuffy actually built the house. He was going to retire here I think... At least that's what my Dad told me... Then Sheriff McDuffy got sick and well... I'm sure you know the rest."

Sheriff nodded a bit, a slow whistle let out. Indeed he did. Only two weeks after retiring Sheriff McDuffy had suffered massive engine failure... It had been a very hard hit to the town.

Joe quickly took a seat at the computer as Sheriff slowly pulled up along side her. Quickly she began typing something, a frown set across her features as she shifted her gaze from the keys to the screen and back again.

"What's that like a chat room?"

"Sort of... The people I need to get over here don't have... Well... Brains like you and I do. You see when car kind started out they had a sort of processor... That's why some of these model T's live so long. Then as you evolved into what you are it became more and more biological. I wouldn't be surprised if in another hundred years or so you don't actually require food instead of gas."

Sheriff gave a slight blink at that, more than a little stunned. "Alright... Why?"

"Joe chuckled a bit and smiled. "Did you ever hear of survival of the fittest? Well it would make sense that you would evolve into something more biological in a strictly biological world. I mean after all your systems will most likely develop to fit the climate, and even deal better with water and such since it's so important..."

Sheriff gave a soft snort, not really sure if he agreed with that. Especially with what he knew...

"Alright I got it. Flip that breaker on over there." Sheriff nodded and mored across the room, flipping what looked like a power switch on. The rest of the communication system lit up, peebs and blips coming from random points as it warmed up.

"Good... Now this system tends to get overheated... So while I talk I need you to watch the gages and if any one gets into the red, flip the breakers and switch generators alright?"

"Joe... These are CB's... Trucks still use these things."

Joe would only give a slight smirk and nodded. "Trust me..."

The thing hissed to life and Joe leaned in, ready to start in a moment. "Pappa Bear? The midnight ride is gonna need a track, ya copy that?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She hadn't been kidding about the midnight part... The message had been so scattered and strange that even Sheriff didn't know what the hell she was talking about... The male voice that had answered had been just as bad. He had to agree there wasn't a truck anywhere who had probably had a clue what they had been talking about.

Though close to midnight they were standing outside the house, with Sheriff and Doc holding Blaire up between them. The car was doing a bit better since he had almost literally been under ice all day. Though still he looked groggy and was obviously in pain.

"Is this mystery person coming?" Sheriff questioned, pulling a simple nod from Joe. Indeed within' a few moments the low baying of a rig's engine rang out, though not one that any of them had ever heard... Most be an old rig... The sounds of the newer models of rig were softer, almost to the point of sounding like any car. This engine almost had a tractor quality about it, but much louder and more powerful. After a moment a truck picked its way slowly into view, carefully crawling its way down the driveway.

The thing was massive... Jet black from cab to trailer with the standard rig running board lights, lighting up his way. Though that wasn't what caught their attention. In the moonlight something else became very clear... The truck had no face... His windshield was just that... A windshield... It was clear, giving a clear view into his cab, rather than expressive eyes of any other vehicle. Grill was solid, devoid of expression or even a mouth...

"I'm sorry" Joe offered quietly as Dog's engine died down. "The last time me or Blaire mentioned anything like him you threw us in lock down... I didn't want to say anything. This is Black Dog. We call him Dog... He's one of the firsts..."

Shocking... Didn't entirely cover it...

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Pixar owns Cars and they are awesome. I own Seth, Joe, and the others that were not in the movie. Chow!

Notes: Yayness! Not much to say about this chapter but for all those looking for what's going on with Lightning stay tuned. A bit more is going to pick up with him in the next few chapters. He's got issues of his own entirely. As usual send all comments and I would be happy to hear them.!

XXXXXXXXXX

"How is he?"

Doc sighed heavily as he glanced up at Joe, a rather flat look given. "You asked me that just a few minutes ago. And like a few minutes ago he's hanging in there..."

Joe sighed heavily and nodded a bit. "I'm sorry... I'm just worried."

Doc sighed heavily and relented with a bit of a nod. "He'll be alright Joe. I gave him something to help him sleep. With his radiator out sleep is the best thing for him right about now. It will keep his systems to a slower rate and therefore keep him cool."

Joe nodded slowly and leaned back against the steel wall of Dog's trailer, eyes closing as she listened to the sound of the rumbling engines.

Sheriff uneasily shifted back and forth where he was parked behind a couple of empty fuel barrels... Of which professionally he really didn't want to know where they came from or why he would need them... Joe had mentioned that Dog had been between supply runs...

"So... Dog is a first..." Sheriff finally muttered, just a bit uneasy with even muttering that out loud. Joe flinched and gave a slow nod in response.

"That's right."

"Are there others like him?" Sheriff questioned slowly, pulling yet another nod from Joe. "Yes... In our colony there's eight."

"In your colony?" Doc questioned, not bothering to look up from Blaire as he asked. "There are more of you?"

Eli sighed heavily and shook her head in response. "I can't really answer that."

Doc sighed heavily, exchanging a glance with Sheriff. "Right... Can't answer that."

"No I mean I really can't answer that Doc. As far as I know we're the only ones, but that doesn't mean that's a fact." Joe explained softly. "We just haven't heard from any of them. For all we know their could be more."

"So you don't keep in contact with any other humans than yourselves." Doc mused softly, gaining a nod from Joe.

"We can't really. But for short wave we really don't have a solid method of communications."

"So in by attempting to contact others you would be telling the world that you exist." Sheriff mused, gaining a bright smile from Joe.

"That's right Sheriff. You see we can't really try to find the others, because we would expose ourselves and them in the long run. It's really safer to remain so independent of others... Though my Grandfather told me once that there was another colony around Pennsylvania... He also said that if there was any place in the world for a human to hide it would be the Rockies."

"Makes sense. There's places up in those mountains that no car has ever been able to drive." Sheriff mused softly, a slight nod gained from Doc.

"I suppose..." Joe muttered softly. "I've seen pictures from the old texts, but I've never been there obviously."

But for the steady rumble of Dog's engine they fell for the most part quiet, Sheriff musing quietly over the fuel barrel that banged against his side every time they turned and Doc tending to Blaire's injuries.

After a while Joe smiled and gave a sigh. "Stop staring at the fuel barrels Sheriff... It's survival when it's done... We can't help what we have to do to survive."

"That don't make it legal." Sheriff shot back.

Joe sighed heavily and was about to retort but was cut off by a powerful bellow from Dog's horn, the sound of the engine changing as they felt him shifting gears.

"We'll have to talk about this later. Dog says we're here." Joe muttered, hopping down from the box she had been seated on.

"He says we're here?" Doc questioned, looking a bit bewildered when Joe only shrugged.

"You have to get use to their way of speech. It sorta goes in tones." She explained as the back of the trailer dropped. They were a little ways outside of town, in the more wooded side behind the clinic. Dog had managed to pull them in as close as possible to the clinic. All the better considering the lights of town would still on and Flo's cafe would have a fairly good amount of vehicles huddled around it.

"Come on Sheriff help me get him out. It'll be better for us to take him in through the back." Doc instructed, causing Sheriff to jump into action, the two vehicles holding Blaire up between them as they half carried the unconscious car.

The clinic wasn't far from where Dog had parked himself. A few short feet and they would be in the back door. The problem was the fact that the rest of the town was normally very observant. Especially Seth. Which on any other given day would have been a good thing. Tonight they were dreading it.

Sheriff paused at the back door to Dog's trailer, quickly gesturing for Doc to hold still as he quickly caught a glance around. The sound of Dog's engines had brought Seth to investigate. However, now that all was silent the Mustang was slowly putting the sounds off to hearing things in the night and was heading back up towards Flo's cafe.

With a quick nod the two shifted into drive, carrying Blaire between them, who in his half groggy state could only partly help in movement. For the most part he was perfectly content to be drug in whatever direction they wanted him to go.

Joe ducked herself down low behind Sheriff as they quickly moved to the backdoor of the clinic and slipped inside without incident. As Sheriff and Doc got Blaire settled onto a lift, Joe quickly flipped on the main light panel. Light flooded the clinic as Doc quickly got to work, allowing the Sheriff to back off again, content to keep out of the sudden commotion that was going on.

"Doc I imagine we're going to have company pretty soon..." Sheriff muttered, silently glancing out the window of the clinic. Already the lights of the clinic had attracted the attention of the town's folk... With the two of them having disappeared all day he imagined it was just a matter of time before someone demanded to know what was up.

"Tell them Sheriff?" Both Doc and Sheriff glanced up at Joe's suggestion as she gave a shrug. "They all knew that a search party was out for Blaire. Tell them you found him. Should put them at ease at least..."

Sheriff gave a rather blank look and nodded slowly. "You sure?"

"Eh they know about us anyway." Joe commented with an idle shrug.

Sheriff nod, silently shifting into gear and leaving Doc to work on Blaire as he headed out to head off curious townsfolk.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"We came this way already."

"I'm positive it's this way."

The arguing had gone on for hours. By light of day things had looked different. The trees not so dark. The paths not so invisible.

"Bill this is crazy!" Ron followed closely along behind his sibling in the darkness, shrinking down as the trees loomed over them. They almost seemed to be accusing them. Pointing out what they had done and their inability to find the missing car and therefore correct it.

"Ron it doesn't matter. We have to find that car. I don't know why everyone else has given up already but I'm not going to. Not until we either have searched every inch of this wood or find the car. Whichever comes first."

"But Bill... It's dark and we can't see a thing as it is. Lets just go back to town and we'll start again in the morning."

Bill sighed heavily and took a glance around. He had been attempting to find the way back to town for the past hour or so. That wasn't information he wanted to let his sibling in on just yet but as it was... It was starting to look like they were entirely lost.

Everything looked different under the darkness of night and they were way off of the hunting trails...

"Hey Bro look at this." Bill's attention was caught as Ron poked at something or other on the ground. For the first time Ron didn't seen all that nervous. Rather curious of something. That along brought in Bill's attention and drove him to investigating with his brother.

"What is it?" Bill questioned as he came up beside his brother, who only gave a shrug.

"I thought it was just a piece of wood that had been buried. But I think it's covering something."

Bill frowned deeply, pulling the thing up just a bit. It was old and looked a bit out of care... The hole that it covered seemed to go down quite a ways...

"I think it's an old mine shaft. Nothing to get worked up over." Bill muttered softly.

"Bill..." Ron muttered after a while, eyes widening a bit. "There's a wire connected to it..."

Bill frowned and tilted on his frame just a bit as he pulled it back a bit further. "Now why would there be-" Whatever he had been about to say was abruptly cut off as the wire snapped tight, a soft click sounding through the otherwise silent forest.

The two siblings had enough time to exchange a brief glance before the ground beneath them gave way and they were falling into the darkness. The last thing that registered was a high pitched beep that started up from seemingly everywhere at once.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Sheriff!"

Sheriff gave a slight flinch and sighed as he rolled up to Flo's cafe, finding himself quickly the center of attention of those demanding information and just what was going on. Flo was first up, abruptly finding himself grill to grill with her as she interrogated him.

"Where have you been all day? For that matter where is Doc? Everyone has been coming to me for information about where you and Doc have been and I didn't know what to tell them and just where were you?"

"Blaire's cabin, Doc's treating him now, he's safe, and speaking of those trucks where are those two?" Sheriff questioned, causing those gathered to fall to silence.

"Well when you weren't around to pick up the investigation they went off into the woods on their own..."

"They went into the woods?" Sheriff blurted out, gaining a slow nod from Flo.

"I'm sorry Sheriff I didn't know what else to tell them. Last I knew we were still looking for Blaire... And Seth went down to the sign post at the edge of town a little while ago to watch for speeders..."

Sheriff sighed heavily and nodded as he parked in his usual space. "I know Flo. I'm sorry we kept you all out of the loop. Blaire is going to be alright. He's at the clinic. As for Seth... Good, that's good experience for him."

"What about the howlers?"

Sheriff sighed heavily at Mater's question and shook his grill. "Mater for the last time there are no howlers. Though Joe is at the clinic if you mean one of them critters."

That brought on a brief silence as they all considered what more was to be done. The humans were back in town it seemed.

Sheriff sighed, about to attempt to ease there nerves when Sally lifted up just a bit from where she had been parked, as she attempted to see down the roadway. "Hey look. Headlights."

Indeed twin beams of light was coming closer to town from across the plains rather than sticking to the road. It had the raised lighting of an off road vehicle, and rather than the dirt roads it was bouncing steadily over the underbrush. Strange but not unheard of. However, what made it unique was the fact that it stopped on the edge of town. It hesitated there, seeming rather unwilling to move any closer. Even to the point of pulling forward just a bit and backing off again, with a nervous little twitch. Something wasn't right.

"I'll go check it out..." Sheriff muttered slowly, as he let his engine turn over and headed off across down. Within' moments he slowly approached the strange vehicle. He felt headlights fall onto him, the massive vehicle falling still as he approached. From this angle he could tell it was a truck. The high beam lights gave that information away but now he could see the rugged off road vehicle that it was...

"Hello?" He called out, not particularly looking forward to approaching an unknown vehicle in the dark. The truck's only response was a mighty blast of it's horn.

Sheriff sighed heavily and shook his grill, approaching slowly and at a wide angle as he circled around to see the army green vehicle without the headlights shining in his eyes. The vehicle remained still, allowing him to circle, giving Sheriff a clear view of something he really wished he hadn't... No face... Just a blank glass where eyes should have been, its hood and grill frozen in time. It was a first.

"Are you out of your mind? Someone from this town is going to see you." Sheriff snapped irritably. Which he felt a little foolish for within' a few moments. Of course this vehicle knew that... He was rather certain this vehicle had been around a lot longer than he himself had, even though the truck didn't exactly look it...

"Can you understand me?" Sheriff questioned after a few minutes, earning another mighty blast of the truck's horn. "Ok! I'm sorry, but..." Sheriff paused for a few moments, trying to choose his wording. "Alright, exactly what is it that you want?"

Almost instantly the horn picked up a steady and quick pace. There was a pattern there... Short and long blasts from its horn, which could only cause Sheriff to back up a bit with a stunned expression.

"That's morse code!"

Sheriff through his attention behind him for a moment to the sound of Sarge's voice. Morse code... Made sense.

"Well then what did he say?" Sheriff yelled back, causing the truck to shift away just a bit.

"He said Joe!" Sarge yelled, the rest of the town's cars silently exchanging glances with each other.

Sheriff let out a tired groan and nodded, putting things together as quickly as possible. Of course... "Somebody go to Doc's clinic and tell her to get out here!" He yelled back to the cafe.

There was a flash of red that told him Lightning had gone to do it, the young sports car heading off down the street at a fast pace as Sheriff sat with the strange truck.

"So... I'm guessing something big is going on for you to risk coming so close to town..." Sheriff mused softly. The truck didn't seem to even glance his way, though he certainly wasn't sure what he was looking for in form of facial expressions. There didn't seem to be really any defining expression or feature that could even constitute as an expression...

It just... Stared...

Thankfully to the creator himself Joe was fast about getting out into the night air. Sheriff didn't have much time to dwell on that expressionless face before he heard the soft thumping of Joe's bare feet hitting the pavement.

"Maverick! What the hell are you doing out here?"

She slid to a stop next to the metallic hide of the massive off road vehicle. It let out a loud blast of it's horn, which caused Sheriff to jump just a bit, though Joe seemed to pay it no mind.

This time there didn't seem to be any pattern. The blasts were tones for the most part. Though slowly Sheriff was picking up a bit of a pattern. Mostly in tones. It didn't seem that there were any real words in there. It wasn't a language per say more of a expression of feeling. At the moment Sheriff was picking up that something had this truck very agitated. Even a little frightened it seemed. Maybe some amount of irritation mixed in for good measure. Those tones seemed to be expressing the truck's feelings rather than any exact phrasing. Which in turn by what limited morse was thrown in, seemed to have Joe rather concerned.

"Joe everything alright?" Sheriff's question for a long moment seemed to go entirely unheard as Joe focused on whatever it was the one she called Maverick was saying. After a moment she shook her head and let out a deep breath, fingertips drumming across sides of her legs in what seemed to be a rather nervous habit.

"I've got to go with him and sort this out. Sheriff would you mind keeping an eye on Blaire for me?" Joe questioned, even as she heaved herself up onto the back bed of the truck.

"I've got it. Do what ya gotta do." Sheriff called as the truck's engine roared to life and it began to back up on the rough terrain.

Within' a matter of minutes the only thing still visible of the off road vehicle was the pinpoint dots of its tail lights.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Darkness was the first thing that really registered. Darkness and a splitting pain. Ron slowly pushed himself to his tires, and blinked in the pitch black setting, attempting to gain a sense of just where the hell he was. It was cold... That was another thing that was slowly sinking into his mind. It was cold and a little damp.

"Bill?"

The other truck stirred in the darkness, the soft shifting sound of tires on dirt echoing in the closed in space around them. the sound of a small truck attempting to get to his tires on a dirt floor.

"I'm here..." Bill muttered, sounding more than a little groggy from the fall. Though slowly he seemed to be taking into consideration their current outlook on life just the same as Ron was. "Where are we?"

"I don't know... I think we went through the roof... An old mine shaft maybe?"

Bill gave a slow nod, his attention turning upward as his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. Still he flipped his headlights on, high beams flaring to life as he slowly let the light fill the space they were sitting in.

"It doesn't really look like a mineshaft..." Bill muttered quietly, his headlights turning upward to the hole high above where they had obviously broken through and tumbled down into the darkness. He could just barely see the soft glow of moonlight. Rather at least what he thought was moonlight... "Or at least not one that I've ever seen. If it's a mine shaft it would be very inconvenient for miners..."

"I don't think that's exactly the important part..." Ron mused softly as he stared up at that pin point of light. "I think the important part is just how in the hell we're going to get out of here..."

Bill paused for a moment and glanced back at his brother, for a few long moments seeming to think over their situation. After a few minutes he had no choice but to nod his solum agreement. It didn't look as if there was a way out. The damn feeling in the air, along with the incredible height they seemed to have tumbled, not only was it going to be nearly impossible to get out, it was almost a miracle in itself that they were even alive to be considering the fact of how in the world they were going to get themselves out of that hole...

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Blaire! Blaire can you hear me?"

The loud question, that the car being asked so did not want to hear, worked its way into the mind and shook it until he had no choice but to in some way respond.

"Blair!"

"Go 'way"

Doc grumbled softly at the almost unheard complaint, one tire nudging Blaire's side hard enough to give out a soft thud of rubber on metal.

"Blaire!"

Blaire slowly pulled himself to the land of the living with a brief little flinch as the sun cascaded down across his hood. The light left odd patterns on the sterling silver hide, where the window pane cut off the rays.

"What time is it?" The Mustang questioned rather groggily, not entirely coming around as Doc prodded at him.

"Nearly noon. I know you want to sleep but I need you to get up and get some oil in you and try and turn your engine over for me."

Blaire gave a slight nod as he slowly forced himself up just a bit. A can of oil was slid in front of him and he gratefully sipped at the liquid, enjoying the soothing taste. For a long moment he had to sit and wonder just what the hell he was doing there... Would have panicked if it didn't hurt way to much to panic...

It was obvious he was in a clinic. He also knew Doc though the last time he really remembered seeing him he was staring at him from the wrong side of a judge's stand... Again reason to panic... Odd that he wasn't...

Slowly though memories were starting to come back. He had been out in the woods with Joe. He had been fussing at her and warning her that she shouldn't be out riding during the hunting season. That she should follow generations of good guidelines and stay underground. However, she had pointed out that past generations rarely had such a horrible energy crisis going on and that they couldn't afford not to take on the risk of heading out during hunting season.

He remembered separating from her to look into something near the road. He also remembered coming back to see a truck with Joe locked in his rifle's scope... There hadn't been time to warn Joe so he reacted...

Then he remembered the splitting pain... He remembered driving through the woods... Fast... Some part of him also remembered a haze like dream of being in his cabin down in the woods. He remembered Sheriff and Doc were there... He also remembered he had gotten out of bed to tell Sheriff Dawson to get out of his house...

He remembered a horrible pain when he did that... He somewhat remembered being carried in and out of the cabin to...

He remembered some time alone... Joe had gone to get help he thought... Jenny had been singing to him... Jenny...

He jumped to his tires, a sharp yelp given in the process, the spots car collapsing in moments.

"Blaire! Park it!" Doc yelled, not in the least amused as he turned around.

"Who has Jenny?" Blaire abruptly blurted out, pulling a sigh from Doc.

"With someone named Nanna."

Blaire gave a slight blink but slowly relaxed, rather content with that knowledge. Still, the entire event was entirely surreal to him...

"Where's Joe?" He questioned after a time, pulling a heavy sigh from Doc.

"She was here for a time. Then one of your friends came and picked her up. She's been gone ever since. One of those odd vehicle types..."

"The firsts?" Blaire questioned, more than a little surprised the rather elusive group had made itself knowing, willingly.

"Mhmm. A rather large truck gave us a lift back from your cabin." Doc reported as he quietly went through the clipboard of paperwork in front of him.

"Dog?" Blaire clarified slowly. It made sense. Of all the rather elusive firsts Dog was actually one of the more social.

"Mhmm, that was him." Doc muttered softly. "I need you to try and turn your engine over for me."

Blaire gave a nod and closed his eyes with a deep sigh. It took a moment and when his engine did finally turn over it came to life with a wave of fiery pain that left him breathless.

"Alright, that's good. You can cut if off now."

Blaire nodded and let his engine idle and then die, heaving softly at the lingering pain that cut through his engine.

"Any lingering, general pain?" Doc questioned softly, pulling a light groan from Blaire.

"Everywhere..."

Doc gave a sigh and nodded. "You lost a lot of fluids. A lot of oil, fuel, coolant... The burning feeling will hang on a few days and the only thing that's really going to make it any better is running your engine. So I'm going to put you on a schedule to make certain your engine is started up every so often. Understand?"

Blaire gave a light sigh and nodded, a frown crossing his grill. "Yep... Gotcha..."

Silence befell the two as Doc quietly made notes about his own treatment plan, leaving Blaire to think for the time about his own predicament.

"Doc? What happened to the hunter that shot me?"

Doc chuckled softly and shrugged. "Sheriff is looking into that. It was a hunting accident. Without going into the rights of hunting humans in the first place and exposing your humans up in the mountains there's not to much you can do. They're nice enough people. Didn't mean anything by it. Admittedly Sheriff will most likely write them both a hefty ticket for recklessness when he finds them."

"Finds them?" Blaire questioned with a slight blink.

"Mhmm. You scared the hell out of those two. According to Flo when we left to get to you up at the cabin those two wouldn't leave well enough alone. Went up into the woods to look for the car they had shot and help him. So now we have to missing trucks... No one has seen them since yesterday afternoon."

Blaire gave a slow nod to that and sighed. "What time is it now?"

Doc frowned and glanced up to check the time. "Nearly noon."

The silver Mustang sighed heavily and gave a slow nod as he settled back on the lift he was currently settled on. It wasn't exactly comfortable but it wasn't exactly uncomfortable either. Still he would give just about anything to be back in his nice, peaceful cabin...

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, now let's think about this logically..." Bill reasoned as he stared up at the dim light filtering in. It was coming onto noon or at least he thought by the light that was slowly getting brighter up above. The problem was that it was so far up, it only shed a very dim light down into the tunnel they had found themselves in. It was just light enough to be able to turn off their headlights and be able to see each other clearly. However the darkness to either direction of the small tunnel seemed forbidding enough to keep them put...

"If this is an old mining tunnel there has to be an access point..."

"But what if it's not?" Ron reasoned right back. "I mean, it doesn't look as if a car's ever stepped tire down here. What if it's just some animal's burrow. Or more to the point what if it's just a natural tunnel? There might not be any access points."

Bill rolled his eyes and swung his headlights around to the right. The twin beams fell on a massive wooden beam that seemed to be holding up a portion of the ceiling.

"Oh..." Ron muttered, then nodded. "Well what if it's a mine tunnel that collapsed or something. I mean if it's fallen into ill repair that kind of explains it doesn't it?"

"I don't know. It doesn't really matter. We obviously can't get out that way... The link isn't working down here... We've got to try and find a way out."

"Moving from here isn't a good idea... I mean that's lost in the woods 101..."

"Lost in the woods yes, but what about lost in a mine? We'll leave a trail or something. If we can get down one of those tunnels we need to try."

Ron sighed heavily and nodded, silently getting to his tires. There was no talking his sibling out of this one. He knew the other truck well enough to know that...

Still though he couldn't help but worry. It felt as if they were being watched... It was more than a little unnerving. As they started down the tunnel way, there turned a sharp chill in the air.

"That's an air current." Bill muttered after a time. "There's got to be a way out down here. There wouldn't be an air flow through here if there wasn't another opening."

Ron sighed heavily and nodded, trying to shake that lingering feeling of being watched. There was no one down there but them... Them and maybe a few rats or bats or something of the nature... Bugs maybe... Creepy craw-lies...

The very thought made him shudder...

They hadn't gone very far when that feeling of being watched came back on. Ron paused in his traps, and abruptly swung his headlights around to flow over the tunnel walls. Bill sighed and ignored his siblings paranoid goings on...

"Bill?" Ron called out, glancing back to his sibling who had never stopped moving.

Headlights swung around again in a wide arc as he attempted to pinpoint the reason for that edgy feeling. As headlights swung there was a soft tapping... Like the footfall of a large animal...

"Bill!" Ron called again, shrinking back just a bit.

"What?" Bill called right back, sounding more than a little irritated in the darkness.

"There's something in here..."

"Yeah... Us... Now come on."

Ron gave a quick shake of his grill, his headlights making another long sweep. "Aside from us... I think it's an animal of some kind..."

"You have a rifle. If it's something dangerous shoot it. Now come on."

Ron whimpered and slowly turned around to follow his sibling. He had only taken a few steps when Bill paused in front of him, the younger truck nearly running into the back of his older brother. "Bill what gives?"

Bill didn't respond. Only backed up a few feet. Slowly Ron stepped around his sibling to see what had brought his brother up short and froze. Several feet ahead of them were the remains of an old pickup. Fifties model of some kind. Looked to be a Ford... He had obviously been down there a very long time. He had also obviously been dead for a very long time...

XXXXXXXXXXX

"How is he Doc?"

The question came from a more or less round the group, everyone speaking up at once. A very long day... The mid afternoon sun was quietly creeping into evening and Doc's day had been settled into contending with a very nervous Blaire. He couldn't say he blamed the Mustang. The car had wanted Joe. Wasn't comfortable without Joe around. Though Doc knew the moment the sun peaked over the horizon they wouldn't be seeing the female human until sundown. Blaire knew that to, but still he was more than a little nervous to be alone in a town where not six months prior he had been standing trial in. Plus the fact they knew very well who he was. However, with what they now knew Doc couldn't see breaking the trust they had developed.

"He'll be just fine. He just needs a few days rest."

"What about them humans?" Mater questioned, the aging truck giving a wide eyed look of a child asking about the monsters under the bed. The lovable old truck still hadn't quite caught onto the fact that the humans were truly harmless. After all one vehicle had to outweigh one of them by at least twelve times... That estimate was only the smaller vehicles. Some vehicles much more than that...

"Joe will most likely be back before dawn. I'm not certain where she was going in the first place..."

"Back down to the colony."

The gathered group gave a little jump as they glanced back, a female voice having startled them all into attention.

"I had to go back down to the colony and sort some things out." Joe offered with a quiet nod, the small human able to sneak up behind them with ease. A bit of a haze where she even came from but in the dim twilight they could just see the dark form of a vehicle parked out in the desert, waiting faithfully for her return.

"There a problem?" Doc questioned softly, pulling a heavy sigh from Joe.

"Could say that... How's Blaire?"

"He'll need a lot of rest and he might need someone to help him through part of the healing process... I would almost go as far as to say he was going to need physical therapy... To soon to really tell though. He should pull through it just fine though. Everything alright on your end?"

Again Joe sighed, a somewhat nervous look gained as she glanced back to the vehicle parked on the distance. "Not really... We have a slight problem..."

"What's up?" Sheriff quickly cut in, worry edging on his voice as he rolled forward. Though the others were little by little edging back, not entirely wanting to be close to the human.

Joe took a glance around, making certain the little group gathered around Flo's cafe was going to be here only witnesses, the growing town making her more and more nervous as time went on. However, desperate times did call for desperate measures.

"Your two trucks... The hunters who shot Blaire?"

"Bill and Ron." Sheriff clarified gaining a slight nod from Joe.

"That's them."

Sheriff nodded and gave a sigh. "Couple of stubborn mules if I ever saw um... What did they do?"

"They stumbled on one of the tunnels leading to our colony..."


	4. Chapter 4

The shock brought on by the announcement brought on a round of silence that cut through the normally rather noisy space like a red hot dagger. The normal chatter of the cafe had stopped entirely, leaving the area to dead silence.

"They found one of the tunnels?" Sheriff finally stammered out.

Joe nodded slowly, a gesture that pulled a heavy sigh from Doc. "So where do we go from here?" The old car questioned, which in turn brought another half panicked look from Joe.

"That's just it. I'm not entirely sure... I mean we have our ways with how it was dealt with in the past..."

"Which are?" Doc prompted, gaining a slight sigh from Joe. She folded her legs up beneath her and quietly took a seat on the ground.

"That tunnel has been discovered before, because it's so close to the road. It's a really bad place for a tunnel but for our merit the tunnel was there first... Then they put the road through and it's just way to close to civilization now... Anyway back in the fifties of your time someone stumbled into it. Of course the interstate wasn't in yet. We think it was an old hermit that lived out in these woods. Anyway a car stumbled in there through the top vent system. My great grandfather was in charge back then... He ordered it sealed off entirely from the rest of the colony and abandoned... Then they gassed the tunnel..."

If it was possible for the silence to become any thicker... It certainly just had... Joe cringed and quietly waited for the reaction she knew was about to be quick to come.

"You had the car killed?" Doc questioned slowly.

"For the record I wasn't even born yet." Joe pointed out quickly.

"Fair enough." Was Doc's quick reply, though he still upheld that rather irritable tone. "What about now?"

"Hey in my own defense I didn't have to even tell you they were down there." Joe pointed out again. "Don't get snappy with me Doc."

Doc grumbled softly but still gave a light nod. "Very well. What are you going to do about this?"

Joe sighed and for a moment buried her face in her hands. "I don't know. If they don't find any traces of us... I suppose you might be able to convince them it's a mine shaft..."

"Hang on a sec." Sheriff cut in after a moment, a rather puzzled look crossing his features. "If you abandoned that tunnel how did you even know they were down there?"

"The alarms were set off. We still have that tunnel rigged for alarms and we try to keep it up kept just in case we need it." Joe explained softly. "The only thing we can figure is that they must have gone through one of the northern ventilation shafts... The alarms are going off but the actual entrance which has been sealed off for some time hasn't been disturbed... We're keeping a close eye on it but Doc... If they break through to the colony the firsts are going to be the ones to move forward and protect it. We can't let them know about us..."

"Joe I understand that but we can't exactly allow you to not abide our laws." Doc pointed out simply. "We'll do what we can to help you but-"

"Doc I'm not entirely sure you're getting all of this." Joe offered flatly, slowly climbing to her feet. With her sudden change in tone the dark form of the silent vehicle on the horizon roared it's engine to life, headlights licking on. Joe rolled her eyes and waved a hand at the vehicle. Within' a moment the rather protective truck had calmed again.

"I didn't have to come forward with this information. I don't want to hurt those vehicles down there. I don't want to follow the ways that my grandfathers laid down. I'm telling you that if you can come up with a way to get them out without exposing the colony they'll be fine. We're sealing off that tunnel. Getting them out is in your field. Twenty four hours we won't have a choice but to gas the tunnel again."

Doc growled and got to his tires, beginning to pull forward. However, it was Sarge that cut in, seeming to have the question that was on everyone's minds.

"What gas?"

Joe took a few steps back, welcoming the distraction and getting just a few paces away from Doc. "It's a form of nerve gas that our people started creating when we were first forced underground. The original idea was to use it to take our world back. It was created to directly attack a vehicle's system."

"So since we're still here and we never heard of it I suppose that means it was never used?" Sarge questioned slowly, gaining a short nod from Joe.

"You would guess right... In the beginning we had contact with other colonies... But one by one we started losing contact with them. Our colony took it as a sign things had gotten worse and we scrubbed the mission... It would have only have worked if there were more colonies out there to take on more fronts as my grandfather put it... We just didn't have enough resources to launch a full scale assault alone... If we had any hint that there we might not be alone we would have made an attempt to fight back."

"Just what kind of armories do you have down there?" Sarge questioned, actually gaining a chuckle from Joe.

"Really hun, ya think I'm gonna tell ya that? We can look after our own. Aside from that it won't do us much good if we don't find an energy source soon..."

"Alright back up." Sheriff abruptly threw in, the old patrol car pulling up into the circle, effectively cutting off Joe on one side, Doc and Sarge on the other. "One thing at a time. Joe we can't exactly help you out if you're not entirely upfront with us. We're doing what we can but you'll have to give us a few inches here."

Joe rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "I've given you a few feet." She pointed out. "The firsts are normally rather elusive. They don't like being above ground."

"Beside the point." Sheriff muttered. "Doc we can't exactly blame them for what they've done to keep their people safe."

Doc grumbled softly, for the moment settling back. "True she can't be held accountable for something that happened before her time... What of the two lives at risk now?"

Sheriff gave a sigh and glanced over to Joe. "Joe you asked once to be treated like any car while in a court of law. With that in mind I have to hold ya accountable for that..."

Joe sighed and nodded a bit. "Ok... So I suppose the first thing to do would be to meet you half way..."

Sheriff smiled and offered a light nod of his grill. "That would be a start."

"Fine..." Joe muttered, quietly dusting herself off. "I want to check on Blaire... Then I'm going back down to the colony... Whoever is coming with me needs to be ready to go by then." She commented flatly, spinning on a heel and heading back to the clinic, ignoring the absolute silence she left behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey"

Blaire gave a light grunt, his eyes cracking open to reveal a much calmer light than the first time he was forced to awaken.

"Good morning sunshine"

He groaned lightly, making a mental note to run the human that dared utter those words over... "Leave me alone Joe. Can't you see I'm suffering enough?"

Joe rolled her eyes and let out a light chuckle, quietly taking a seat just in front of the Mustang's grill. "Good to see you again to sunshine... Wake up. I've got somethin' to tell ya."

Blaire let out another groan, but this time did come around a bit more, his attention leveling on Joe.

"We found the trucks who shot you..." Now his attention was riveted as she idly pulled at a string on the rough fabric that made up her shirt. "While looking for you they stumbled onto one of our access tunnels... Ya know the one that was closed down?"

"Yeah..."

"An alarm went off on it a few hours ago... David went to check it out. He says they were down there alright. The same trucks they tailed for a while in the woods after you were shot."

"What are you going to do about it?" Blaire questioned softly, feeling more and more groggy by the minute.

"Only thing we can do... Work with this town just a bit more... You don't worry about it Blaire. Just get some sleep."

"What else can I do?" Blaire questioned with a light smirk. "Just do me a favor... Don't die. Lord knows I can't train another human the way I have you trained."

Joe rolled her eyes and didn't even bother to offer protest. She simply stood up, giving Blaire's fender a good nudge. "I've gotta go grumpy. Sheriff and them 'll be waiting to go down to the colony."

Again she had Blaire's full attention as he attempted to half lift up. "The colony?"

"Sleep Blaire." Joe scolded gently. "You let me worry about the colony."

The Mustang heaved a sigh and nodded as he settled back where he was parked in Doc's clinic, perfectly willing to let someone else worry on it. The dark edges of sleep were creeping up on him again and as Joe's soft foot fall sounded leading outside of the clinic.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The full moon had risen high over the mesa by the time Sheriff made his way up onto the overcropping hill that Joe had instructed whoever cared to meet her to be at. Joe leaned casually against the side of a silent vehicle. The car wasn't the one that had come down to pick her up earlier but rather an Jeep Cherokee style vehicle a dark crimson in coloring.

"Just you Sheriff?" Joe questioned softly, pulling a sigh from the patrol car.

"Me and Sarge." Joe gave a slight blink in surprise and glanced past Sheriff to the jeep who was making his way up the hill with a slow nod.

"Military experience right?" Joe mused, gaining a nod from Sheriff.

"We are a lot of things. Stupid isn't one of them miss..." Sheriff faltered, seeming to come to the realization he had never asked for a last name. Joe only smirked and shrugged, spinning around to pull open the jeep's passenger side door. Both Sheriff and Sarge froze with wide eyes as Joe pulled herself up into the vehicle and settled in as it roared to life and pulled forward.

After a moment Sarge and Sheriff grudgingly pulled forward and fell into drive trailing behind the jeep like vehicle. It was most certainly going to be a long night...

XXXXXXXXXXX

The trek up into the mountains took the small group close to an hour. Not a particularly long drive but as Sarge had been quick to point out the jeep who had been eventually introduced by the name Rusty, was making sure to stay on no set path. He was changing direction and even doubling back every so often. A fact that Rusty was making absolutely no attempt to hide.

Partly they supposed to throw off anyone who might follow. A natural habit the group had picked up. However, both Sarge and Sheriff had a slight idea that it was most likely also to throw them off so they wouldn't be able to find their destination again.

They kept to a rather slow but steady pace, the rugged jeep ahead of them seeming to be picking out the places that would be easier for the two elder vehicles to follow. After about a good hour of driving Rust abruptly slowed down to near a crawl, his passenger side door popping open and allowing Joe to hop out. A fact that rather disturbed the vehicles following. It was more than a little unnerving to see part of the vehicle's side open and a human ride around inside of him...

Joe quickly moved to what appeared to be a tree stump and knelt down beside it, keeping a close watch out for Rusty as she ducked down. Once the jeep passed a certain point she pulled up on what looked like a heavy black leaver. A soft beep sounded, and part of the ground slowly shook, pulling back to reveal what looked like a ramp, dirt and rock piled atop a heavy iron bay door.

"Military bunker doors..." Sarge muttered softly beside Sheriff.

"Hurry up you two. The doors only stay open for so long on a single security clearance." Joe called, hurrying to duck inside the doors with Sheriff and Sarge right behind her. As soon as the door entirely slid open it began to close again, casting the tunnel to darkness.

Up ahead Rusty's headlights clicked on as the heavy bomb bay doors slid shut with a thump, the vibration of the closing door causing the dirt and rock to shift just a bit and once more cover the edges of the heavy door way.

For a moment the four moved in silence, the three vehicles driving slowly and Joe walking down dirt path.

"So... I'm guessing this was once a military bunker." Sarge commented after a time.

"Missile silo actually. But that was way before the war." Joe called over her shoulder.

"Oh? What makes you think that human?" Sarge challenged with a slight smirk.

"That." Was Joe's only response as they rounded a corner into a much larger room. The darkness broke away there and Rusty could drive with his headlights off again, a low red glow of low level lighting filling the massive hall. The dirt path gave way to a ramp, obviously reinforced for vehicle driving... They were a couple hundred feet above the lower ground levels it seemed and the only other thing in the mammoth room was a single rocket style missile...

"I would say that's a pretty good clue..." Sheriff muttered, rather awed at the sight as Sarge gawked.

"Is that thing live?" Sarge demanded, gaining a shrug from Joe.

"Maybe. The computer systems can still be attached to it." She mused, not seeming to want to give up to much information on that. "You might want to keep your parking lights on guys... The lighting system has a tendency to go out on us. Remember we're having an energy crisis." Joe pointed out softly, hopping up onto Rusty's hood so they could pick up a bit of speed on the smoother path they were on.

It didn't exactly take long from there. The tunnel they were in went down about half a mile. In a few minutes they pulled into what looked like another military bunker.

Rows and rows of machines and random equipment seemed to be set up in the bunker that went up a good hundred foot roof clearance, several levels of platforms jutting out into a honey comb of rooms and areas that seemed to be set up in the form of a central hub. At first sight it reminded Sheriff a bit of an ant hill. A central hub and what seemed like dozens and dozens of tunnels arching off of it. It also seemed to be forever under construction. He could see where a few tunnels had at some point or another caved in or sealed off. Still others seemed to be being created.

"How many of you are there down here?" Sheriff breathed out.

"About eight hundred give or take. There were a lot more of us, but the times being as hard as they are it's gotten a lot harder than a lot of us can take." Joe muttered softly.

"How many people did you start out with?" Sarge questioned from behind them, causing Joe to let out a deep sigh. "I don't know. The entire human population fled under ground. I suppose... In this area all the humans who survived the plague. Not many considering what was the world's population, but a lot considering the living conditions."

"I haven't seen the first human down here." Sheriff suddenly mused. Something had been wrong... But he had been unable to put a tire tread on it. However, now that he looked around and heard how many humans were down there... He knew... He hadn't seen any humans.

"They're hiding. You'll be really hard pressed to find a human that will willingly come out into the open when a vehicle is around... Jenny and Nanna excluded of course. They've spent a lot of time with Blaire."

"What do they do when Blaire comes down here?"

"For a while... This." Joe explained as Rusty came to a stop in the middle of the central hub. "Then a little at a time it started getting less quiet when he came around. Now when Blaire comes in he gets a quick glance but otherwise it's business as usual."

"Joe?" The attention of the four snapped up as another human approached. Joe grinned happily and jumped down from Rusty, abruptly throwing her arms around the other human and hugging him close. The much shorter human stumbled for a moment, his attention not really on Joe despite the fact that she was just about lifting him off the ground, but on the two strange vehicles. It was a little strange to the two vehicles. They had both only ever seen Joe up close... Sheriff had seen who he understood to have been Joe's brother but he only saw the other human at a distance.

This human male was much shorter than Joe. The fluff on top of his head that Joe called hair was also shorter at about ear length while Joe's fell down to her waist. The human male had an entirely different look about him.

"Dominic, this is Sheriff and Sarge. Guys this is Dominic. Though we like to call him Nic." Nic's eyes grew impossibly wider as he managed a quick nod. "Nic is our resident expert in all things electronic. It an electrical current makes it tick he can rig it."

"Piece of cake..." Nic quipped nervously.

Joe seemed to drop any further conversation on that, abruptly turning to Nic with a questioning look. "Where's David? It's not like him to hide."

"He's not..." Nic explained softly, his attention turning back to Joe with another nervous look. "He went up top and hasn't come back yet..."

"When did he leave?"

"Early this morning..."

Joe let out a startled cry, rounding off on Nic, sending the poor human backing up, under the glare of his friend and the presence of the two vehicles staring at them in complete confusion. "He went up top alone?"

"He didn't have much of a choice... The power's fading fast and you were still with the firsts in the abandoned tunnels. He had to go out on his own to try and pull off a decent run..."

"But with Deputy Dog sniffing around that's a suicide mission!" Joe yelled, pulling a shrug from Nic.

"You know how he is when he gets his mind on something... It's not like we could have stopped him. Besides all that, Max is running way low on fuel."

"Another first I take it?" Sheriff questioned, gaining a slow nod from Joe.

"In this colony there's Dog, Rocky, Maverick, Max, Diablo, Boe and Bear."

"And who's Deputy Dog?" Sheriff questioned with a rather perplexed look, which drew a smirk from Joe.

"The Sheriff you met. When we started calling him that he was still a deputy."

Sheriff sighed heavily and nodded a bit to that. "Alright... So we're here... I suppose the next step would be just what happened that drove you all down here?"

Joe sighed deeply and gave a nod, silently turning to the one she had called Nic. "Let me know as soon as that brother of mine gets back... Let him know I want to see him. As for the trucks, keep an eye on them through the monitors and if they start getting to fussy in there come find us. We're going to be in the hall of records."

Nic nodded and quickly headed off and out of sight once more. In only a moment or two Rocky seemed to grow bored with their company and likewise cranked his engine and rolled off into one of the many tunnels.

Once they were left to silence again Joe gave a slow nod and started off down a side tunnel, a wave given to drive them to follow. "This way please."

Sarge and Sheriff exchanged a weary look but after a moment let their engines roar to life and slowly followed behind the human. It was maybe a few hundred feet down a tunnel that seemed to be sloping down slowly. If Sheriff had to guestimate he would have said they probably went down another five feet. The tunnel slowly became a bit wider, ventilation shafts cut into the walls and heavy steel support beams keeping the roof safely overhead. Abruptly though the tunnel fanned out, widening into what seemed to be a massive cavern, not quite as high as the main hub but still rather impressive. Like the main hub a honey comb of tunnels and rooms that branched off, though this time many of the rooms seemed to hold electronic equipment as well as aging books.

"This is the hall of records." Joe announced, sounding rather proud of the room in itself. Her voice echoed in the massive room, making her sound bigger and much more powerful than she actually was. "All of our history, literature, and communication equipment that we managed to save from the old way of life is here. I'm sure other colonies might have more, but for where we are it's pretty good I would say..."

"Where we are?" Sheriff abruptly cut in, pulling a nod from Joe.

"The dessert. Around here isn't the most populated of areas. That is halfway in our favor and half against us. We managed to survive when other colonies fell because we could hide in the mountains and not be noticed. Our more populated cities were closer to the coast lines. Places like California and New York made up a good percentage of our over all population. So of course they would have had more in the way of records. However, the downside to that was, that those places tended to fall first. After all it was very simple to go in and devastate a single city. Since those cities were so big, the distraction hit home a lot harder with them gone."

"Is that where it started?" Sarge questioned, gaining a slight shake of Joe's head. "Not to begin with... The first A.I. systems were developed in L.A... But the first A.I. that went rogue was a military vehicle in Augusta Georgia... There's a communications military base down there. I guess they kept upgrading it to the point that it really began to become a bit twisted..."

"So one of your A.I. systems flipped out and started rallying together others?" Sarge mused softly.

Joe flinched and shook her head slowly, eyes closing as she sat down on a battered old chair. "No... Don't get me wrong we humans are no where near innocent in this... We were are war with a country that at that time was settled in the middle east."

Sarge and Sheriff both exchanged a slow glance. "Middle what?"

"Blaire says you all call it the forbidden zone now... That was ground zero... Where the war between us finally went nuclear... That doesn't have very much to do with the outcome I don't think... It just made things more difficult. We didn't notice the fact that the systems in our vehicles were changing. We didn't notice when the A.I. systems in our every day vehicles started developing personalities and opinions and we certainly didn't notice when our military vehicles started seeing the human race as a problem... That was where the real issue started. A rogue A.I. started seeing humans as the world's problem... Sadly enough I think he was right. While we were fighting among each other, smaller fights started breaking out in the U.S. In places like New York and California. By the time we even realized we were on the verge of a revolution it was to late. The Rogue had led the other A.I. systems into one hell of a fight... The first was Washington. They were taken by surprise... The entire city was wiped out in a few hours. Then was New York. By then people knew what was up. That fight lasted a few more days. By then we were finding ways to fight back..."

"That nerve gas you mentioned earlier?" Sarge reasoned, but Joe shook her head.

"No. At that time they were still just A.I systems. Not much more advanced than anything we have here. I think Max is about on their level. He's more advanced than the others. With the right components he could master speech. We just don't have the materials for it. First we tried to hit them with a computer virus... That... Was our first really big mistake."

"I take it, it didn't work out the way you wanted it to..." Sarge mused, ganing a nod from Joe.

"It gave them an idea... Before we knew it, we were in a full blown war. First it was localized to the U.S. borders... Then it started to spread. The streets... Became a very dangerous place... Peace talks completely broke down and the wars the world had been fighting with each other died down into nothing. A.I.'s began advancing themselves... Once they got reproduction down... We couldn't exactly call them artificial intelligence anymore... They evolved from systems built into our vehicles to... Well... You... All of a sudden it was a world of cars and trucks against people."

Joe thought for a moment and let out a soft giggle. "My grandmother always use to tell me it was a little ironic. When she was young she loved this Stephen King movie called Maximum Overdrive. It was about all the cars and trucks coming to life and killing people. She always said it wasn't that good of a movie anymore when it started really happening..."

Sheriff took in a deep breath and nodded slowly. "What about the plague you mentioned."

"That came later... After years of fighting there started to be some talks of peace. Cars began to develop to a point seeing shades of gray... Like yourself. Things weren't just 'Humans are inferior' anymore. After all humans were putting up one hell of a fight and at that time it kinda looked like humans were going to win said fight. So peace talks started developing again..."

"President Karlin was in office back then... The last human president... He arranged a peace talk between the leaders of the major nations and the leaders of the vehicle nations..."

"Vehicle nations?" Sarge cut in with a somewhat puzzled look, gaining a nod from Joe.

"Some countries lost ground faster than others... At that point there were several groups of vehicles who had completely taken over their areas and managed to form a working government between them. At the time that peace treaties were being made our governments fully accepted the new nations for what they were. After all at that point vehicles were winning."

"This is all very interesting but just what drove you underground? When Lizzie was alive she told us about a day where dead humans were all over the streets... She mentioned them getting sick.." Sheriff prompted, gaining a slow nod from Joe. She sighed heavily and turned from them, looking through shelves, upon shelves of what looked to be simple news papers. After a moment she pulled a stack down and dropped them in front of Sheriff.

"Everything we know are in these halls... There's books that were written at the time of the political wars... Mostly though what you're going to find is newspapers and old tapings of news reports..." Joe explained and went to another shelf, for a moment looking through what seemed to be computer discs. She found the one she was looking for and silently came back with it, a deep sigh given. "We have a working player in the back room if you want to watch the news reports... I think you could probably learn more from that, than me telling you about it... I never saw the old days..."

Sheriff and Sarge both gave a nod as Joe quietly went on with her little tour, trying to explain just what life was like underground. Her voice seemed to fade, the two vehicles following behind turning to their own morbid thoughts.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"I don know Doc... Do ya really think I'm ready? I mean you saw what happened last time..."

Doc gave a deep sigh and nodded a bit, gesturing to the form he had laid out infront of Lightning. "Yes and as soon as you run this race I'm gonna see what'll happen this time to. You can't back off of this Lightning. If you do then it's time to start making some very serious career choices."

Lightning gave a slight flinch, the race car biting worriedly at his lower lip as he considered what he was being told, a slow nod given. Doc was right. He really hated to admit it but Doc was entirely right. If he backed down now, he might as well give in.

"Alright... When's the race?"

"Two weeks."

"So we're back on the steady training schedule again?"

"No."

Lightning blinked in surprise, his frame tilting to the side in a rather puzzled look. Normally with a race so close he was put on a strict schedule that normally included hours of of practice and keeping his engine perfectly toned.

"We'll get to fine tuning turns next week. This week you're going home." Again Lightning blinked in surprise, looking for lack of a better word dumbfounded. "What?"

"You heard me. Go pack a bag. Your mother misses ya and Stone claims it's quiet without ya."

Lightning blinked again, not entirely sure he was processing the information correctly. He wasn't sure what was harder for his mind to wrap around. The fact that Doc had apparently had a normal conversation with his family... The fact that Doc had apparently called his family or his family had called Doc, one or the other... Or the fact that he was essentially being told to go home, two weeks before a big race.

"You talked to Stone?" Lightning questioned after a moment, that seeming to stand out above all else as the most absurd thing that had come out of Doc's mouth.

"He talked to me actually. He called me after your last race. He's concerned." Doc explained with a shrug. He was taking a risk with this. Despite the fact that the silver truck had broken more speed limits than Doc wanted to count to get to the hospital in Florida where Lightning had been taken after his wreck... He could tell the relationship between the two was strained at best. He could well understand why... Lightning was the kind to do things his own way and in his own time. Things got done but Lightning wasn't the type to take advice well. Before advice could be taken Lightning was the kind to want to exhaust his own way first. Even after Lightning had come back to Radiator Springs for the second time he had been hesitant to change his racing style. It took several long weeks of his own style wearing him out on the dirt track before he opened up to Doc's advice.

Stone didn't seem like the type to be patient enough to wait the race car out... He had also noted something else on the truck that Lightning most likely reacted rather badly to. One hell of a temper... Still though Doc fully felt that the time off with his family would do Lightning some good... Though just in case...

"Why don't you take Sally with you? She could use a vacation." Doc offered before pulling out of the small office they had been looking over race forms in, leaving behind a dumbfounded Lightning.

At the silence that still remained in the office, Doc couldn't help but chuckle. If he was sending Lightning off to the wolves so to speak the least he could do was send a shield with him. Which happened to be where Sally came in. He would have to apologize to the poor girl later...

"That was cold."

Doc jumped just a bit as he walked into the clinic, a soft chuckle given as Blaire stared at him from up on the lift.

"I take it you heard?"

"Hmm, I never thought that spending time with family was a good way to de-stress." Blaire mused with a shrug. "Though that could just be me..."

"Possibly. I figure either way his mind will be off racing for a while. How do you feel?"

"Sore as bloody hell... But better." Blaire offered with a wry smirk.

Doc gave a chuckle and nodded just a bit to that. "That's a good sign then. Any new pain I should know about?"

"Mhmm... It hurts when I do this." Blaire complained, lifting his front left tire up a bit higher than the others.

"Well then don't do that." Doc mused with a deep sigh. "It looks like you're healing up well Blaire... You're body is patching itself back together where I couldn't, though you're going to need a new paint job before it's all over and done with..."

"Figured as much." Blaire offered with a chuckle. "This town has a body shop doesn't it?"

Doc nodded absently as he glanced over his own notes, a tire idly twitching as he thought.

"I don't like the thought of sending you home right away since you live alone. You're going to need someone at the house with you."

"Doc I don't live alone." Blaire pointed out with a light chuckle, causing Doc to roll his eyes.

"I mean someone who can help you should you need it Blaire."

"Again, got that covered. They're not as helpless as you might think Doc." Blaire reasoned softly, gaining a sigh from Doc.

"Tell me about it..."

Blaire lifted up a bit, mouth opening to further argue his point but he paused with a somewhat startled look, a glance shot out the window. It was a few seconds before Doc heard exactly what Blaire had moments ago.

Engines... Lots of them...

Doc gave a slight blink and pulled out of the clinic, his grill poking its way out of the small office and into the night as he took a quick glance at main street... Which was let up by a caravan of vehicles... That was shocking in itself...

Lightning finally pulled out of the office, pulling up beside Doc as they started out of the clinic at the long line of headlights cutting through town and seeming to be heading up into the mountains.

"What is it?" Blaire questioned, sounding worried as the engines died down. About twelve vehicles in all. All of them off road vehicles or vans. More hunters maybe?

"I don't know..." Doc admitted after a few moments. He couldn't explain the strange event... None of them stopped in Radiator Springs... In fact not one of them seemed to even glance in the general direction of the population as they went through. They all seemed to be heading up into the hills.

"What was that all about?" Lightning questioned slowly. All Doc could do was offer a slow shrug. "I don't know... Though something tells me it can't be good for us..."

"Something to do with those hunters I suspect..." Blaire mused in hushed tones. Doc sighed deeply and offered a slow nod in response. "To true..."

"Looks like they were heading over into the next county over..." Doc mused after a few moments.

"Then I would wager Sheriff Dawson has something to do with that." Blaire put in gently, pulling a slow nod from Doc.

"Want to know what's going on over there?" Lightning questioned, gaining another nod from Doc.

"Get Seth and Sally to drive over to the next town and see what the gossip is... If that nut is causin' trouble I wanna know about it. Then you get back here and start packing." Lightning lifted a tire in a quick salute and pulled out onto the street, his bright red fender disappearing into the inky darkness.

"Think you're gonna find out anything?" Blaire mused softly, pulling a shrug from Doc.

"If it's legal folks should be talking about a crowd like that. Just you take it easy up there..."

Blaire sighed deeply, a slow nod given as he attempted to take a glance out the window from his current vantage point on the lift. "Kinda wish Joe would come back..." Blaire muttered softly.

"You and me both..." Doc agreed, silently pulling the blinds closed on the clinic windows. Hell where the humans were concerned just knowing exactly where one of them was and that they weren't causing trouble was a plus in itself...

"It's getting late." Blaire mused softly, his current view of time just how dark it was getting out the window as one by one the street lights went off for the night. Doc nodded again, a frown crossing his grill.

"If they're gone much longer they wouldn't be able to come back tonight..."

Again Blaire's only response was a deep sigh.


	5. Chapter 5

"Scientists are calling it the most in depth virus system ever created. The government is urging you if you are still in control of your vehicle to as soon as possible disconnect it from the network and turn it off. Meanwhile communications have been lost with the eastern coastline. All major communication stations have been disabled and are considered lost. As peace talks break down among some European nations this sudden viral programing among mechanical appliances could not have come at a worse time. If you are in an Eastern seaboard city and are still able to receive this transmission... Our thoughts and prayers reach out to you. Good luck and God Speed... In other news... Good news for chocolate lovers! Studies have found that-"

There was a soft click as the screen suddenly went blank, the cheerful blond human, replaced by darkness as the power was cut. Sheriff really should have been surprised when the picture died, but he simply kept staring.

"When I was a little girl I use to watch that over and over again. I always imagined that she was still alive, and that really wasn't a hundred year old recording of a woman that probably died during the war..." Joe muttered softly as she came up beside Sheriff, kneeling down on the dirt floor of one of the many rooms carved into the tunnels. The one they were in was a small one. Uncomfortably small to Sheriff's size, though probably rather homey to the much smaller human.

"I use to convince myself that she was real, and the fact that she was still talking meant that there were other people like her... Like me... Still out there. That they were still fighting and we would get to come out of hiding soon... My Dad use to tell me otherwise... He use to tell me that it was all just a fairy tale and that we wouldn't be going up into the daylight anytime soon... I didn't believe him though."

Sheriff nodded slowly, still turning over what he had just seen in his mind. Sarge had watched a few minutes of it, though after some rather disturbing images of some war, the old jeep had quietly excused himself to go read through something a bit more peaceful. Sheriff couldn't really blame him... After all he imagined seeing it all first hand was far different than watching it unfold as he was now...

"Sheriff you've been watching for hours... Sarge has already gone through most of the newspapers and records... If you don't leave soon you won't be able to leave until tomorrow evening or someone might see you..."

"It's amazing..." Sheriff finally muttered, a somewhat bemused tone to his voice. "A hundred years apart and the press is still the press..."

Joe smiled and gave a quiet shrug, thinking that over for a moment. "True. I don't watch many of your broadcasts. They're really hard to get down here and... For us their really discouraging. So we tell everyone of the colony that nothing is coming in. That we should stay put and wait. We don't want them to see what we do. There's no hope ya know? Things are never gonna change, no matter how bad we want them to."

"You don't know that." Sheriff put in gently.

"Yeah I do Sheriff. I figured that out when I met Blaire. He had no idea we were even down here... But ya know what? If we were to fight back now... Even if there millions of us... It would only end in two ways. Either we all die... Or we do to your kind exactly what they did to us. I can't be that person ya know?"

Sheriff smiled a bit and nodded, thinking it over for just a moment. It made sense... Perfect sense... Painfully perfect sense...

"So... Cars won the war?"

"Well not at first. Humans kicked it into high gear and for a while we were winning again... It kinda went back and forth. That news broadcast happened about the time the U.S. split in half... Again..."

"Again?"

Joe sighed a bit and nodded, quietly leaning back against a side wall. "Yeah... Long story. It's in one of those books that Sarge has. It wasn't the first time our country has split itself apart... Funny it all seems to silly now..."

"Lizzie... Once mentioned some kind of plague..."

Joe gave a slight blink, looking for a moment entirely puzzled. "Lizzie?"

"A very old car. She was... One of a kind..."

Joe nodded slowly, a frown crossing her features. "It's her grave isn't it? Up on the hill outside of town?"

Sheriff sighed and gave a slow nod to that. "Didn't seem right to put her anywhere else."

"She... Must have been very old... Very old if she remembers the plague..."

"She remembered the war to." Sheriff offered softly, pulling a slow nod from Joe.

"Then she was only second generation at best... Maybe first... I'm willing to bet her creators were the firsts..."

"Possibly. She never said much about her family. Even in her younger days." Sheriff offered with a slight shrug. "So... Was it really the way she said? Was there a plague?"

Joe sighed deeply and nodded. "Yeah... There isn't much information from back then... All I know is from what my Grandpa told me... He said that there was some kind of peace talk. Cars and Humans were starting to see eye to eye. Starting to agree on some things. There was even talk of the U.S. being united again, and the cities the vehicles had taken over, let loose from the hold they had on them... They were going to let the humans they had holed up in the cities go... It was the first news in years that those people were even still alive... Then people started getting sick."

"The plague..."

"Didn't seem that way at first. Just a few outbreaks of some kind of sickness... Happened a lot in the conditions we were declining to... No fresh water, everything dirty... A lot of sickness was spread that way... But then it started getting worse. More and more people started dying... Then the vehicles struck one more time... Some extremist group to the south... They had set the virus loose by infecting dogs and cats... When the strays started getting sick it spread to humans. It was a contact kind of thing... The survivors fled underground."

"Dogs and cats?" Sheriff mused, looking a bit confused which in turn drew a soft chuckle from Joe.

"Like Ranger. Back then pets were so important to people, they just couldn't live without them. When it started going through pets, people still wouldn't give up their animals. Then people started getting sick..."

"So if that was the basis, why do you have Ranger around?"

Joe smirked and shrugged idly. "Just look at his little face! Aside from that they're rare, even here... There's fifteen dogs currently in our colony... As far as we know that's all the ones that are left in the world... Cats we have more of... Cats are in no danger of extinction anytime soon... They keep the mouse population down in the caverns. The dogs are for the most part hunters."

Sheriff gave a slight nod, his attention returning for the moment to the blank screen. Joe sighed and shook her head a bit as she laid a hand on Sheriff's fender. "Go to the abandoned tunnel and see if you can convince those two knuckleheads that they fell into an old mine shaft will ya? Then go home. I've got to see where my idiot of a brother has gotten off to, and then I'm gonna come back to Doc's clinic and stay with Blaire alright? Things will look up. You're just a little smarter now. Nothing has changed but the information we gave you."

"Right..." Sheriff muttered softly, a flinch given as he pulled his tires back underneath him. "So I've gotta ask ya... Why did you let us know about the two hunters... Rather all of this? You could have stayed just as recluse..."

"No... I really couldn't." Joe explained with a gentle shrug. "I couldn't let those two die and still look Blaire in the eye. I mean... Aside from my people down here, he's like my best friend. Besides... If we exterminated them, we wouldn't be much better than the people who put us down here now would we? There's also a political view... I mean if we kill them, and the whole story comes out about the humans... We'll look like a bunch of savages now won't we?"

"You're just an ol' softy arncha?" Sheriff questioned with a smirk. Joe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Don't let anybody else know. I have the others convinced I'm an evil harpy. Don't wanna kill that rep."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, so quick glance around and we're out of here right?"

Sally gave a deep sigh and nodded, gaze cutting over to the ebony Mustang at her side. "Mhmm, what are you so worried about anyway?"

"That Sheriff gives me the creeps... Something about him... Bad vibes..."

"Seth you've never even met him." Sally scolded, pulling a brief shrug from Seth.

"He still gives me bad vibes... Something about the way he talks on the radio..."

"Seth radio talk is so bland and professional... You talk the exact same way when you're on a police frequency talking to your dad."

Seth gave a light grunt in response as Sally rolled her eyes, the two pulling up to the city limit sign of the somewhat larger town of Triston. Area wise it was about the same size as Radiator Springs, but being closer to the interstate it still had a fairly decent population. It had never really suffered the way Radiator Springs did. It in fact grew a bit over the past couple of years with the building of the new emergency clinic and a Wal-Mart. However, it was still a small one horse town, no matter what way a person decided to look at it.

"You take the West side and I'll take the East. We'll meet up again here in an hour." Sally muttered quietly, gaining an odd look from Seth.

"Why do I have to take the West side?"

Sally rolled her eyes with a deep, tolerant sigh, her frame tipping just a bit to the side. "What's wrong with the West side?"

"Sheriff Dawson patrols that side..."

"Seth he's Sheriff he patrols every side. Now the car's not going to hurt you, lets go." Sally scolded gently, gaining a panicked look from Seth. "Fine... We'll go over the town together... Now come on." Seth grinned and quickly surged forward after the other car, company seeming to ease the car's nerves entirely.

Still the second Lightning had told them what Doc wanted them to do, Seth had been nervous and tried his best to get out of it all together. Strange behavior from the normally fearless Mustang.

Sally shrugged it off with a deep sigh, her attention trailing across the dimly lit road. Behind her she could hear Seth's steady engine, for a moment that and her own engine their only company. Only when the town's lights flooded the streets did really start looking around. The town was pretty active for so late at night...

It looked like all the businesses had closed down but all of the lights were on in a twenty four hour diner in the middle of town.

"Wow... That place is..."

"Yeah..." Sally agreed with Seth's unspoken comment. The diner was indoor, so the place was a massive garage like structure, chrome and glass decorating the outside in a 50's set up that had absolutely nothing to do with the fifties...

"It looks like a chrome truck threw up..." Seth commented slowly, earning a soft giggle from Sally.

"Well it looks like that's the only place that's active so it should at least make our jobs easier." Sally reasoned as she shifted into gear. Seth gave a slight blink and pulled forward, quickly following behind the other car. She had a point and in his opinion the faster they got out of that town the better...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, I'll all packed and ready to go." Lightning called from the other room, causing Doc to give out a soft chuckle as he checked Blaire's vitals.

"Good. Now go get some sleep."

Lightning paused where he sat parked in the doorway, his frame tilting just a bit to the side as he thought. "Doc can I ask you something?"

Doc glanced up from his clipboard, a puzzled expression playing across features as he nodded. "Go right ahead."

"Just what do you expect Sally and Seth to find?"

Doc sighed heavily glancing up to Blaire where he was perched on the rack. The Mustang had been silent for most of the night, simply watching Doc and Lightning move around the clinic with some amount of interest. However, his interest now seemed peaked.

"I honestly don't know. I think-" Doc trailed off at the sound of engines outside of the clinic sounded. A deep frown crossed Doc's features as he hurried to the window and glanced outside, the darkness cut by two sets of headlights. One down low and one set slightly higher, the running board lights suggestive of an off road vehicle. In a few moments his suspicions were clarified as Sheriff and Sarge coming back. Close at their heels a very large animal trotted happily along, only set off from the darkness by splashes of white against a darker pelt.

Doc heaved out a deep sigh of relief and silently opened the main clinic door to allow the three inside. The two vehicles rolled inside, happy to be out of the desert night, followed closely by a tall pinto horse being ridden by a human... Doc was almost certain he had never seen before.

"Nic?" Blaire blurted out from where he was on the rack, gaining a somewhat wry smile from the light haired human on horseback.

"What's going on?" Was the next words Blaire blurted out, causing Nic's smile to fall.

"I honestly don't know the details. Elizabeth sent out a search party for David. She'll be here by nightfall tomorrow but she wanted me to come keep you company."

"He's missing?" Doc suddenly questioned drawing a nod from Nic. "We've been getting a bit more desperate... We've been going out during the day for the past few weeks for what fuel we need... That's really not a norm for us..."

"I've noticed... So David is..."

"Joe's brother." Blaire responded, backed up by a quick nod from Nic. "He should have been back with the evening..."

"He wasn't." Nic explained idly sliding off the back of his horse. "He took ol' Bear out to the next town over and never came back."

"There was quite a commotion heading towards there a few hours ago." Doc mused softly. "I sent Sally and Seth to check it out."

"Probably not a bad idea..." Sheriff muttered softly. "I'm gonna go try and get those to knuckle head trucks out of the tunnels and see if I can convince them it's an old mine shaft. Someone keep an audio out for the radio. Might need help up there if they don't buy it." Sheriff muttered, quietly revving his engine and pulling back out into the night without another word.

Doc sighed heavily and nodded, a quick glance given to Blaire. The Mustang didn't look up. Only seemed to stare out the window into the night.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Can you see anything?"

"Again... No!" Sally snapped softly, causing Seth to back up just a bit. The diner was a bustle of activity... To much activity for the early hours of the morning... At least in the opinion of those normal and sane people who awoke with the sun... Predawn wasn't exactly her time of day.

"I'm gonna go inside and see what I can pick up from the locals. You stay out here and try not to get into trouble." Sally muttered softly as she pushed her way inside... She had learned a long time ago that at times it was best to give seth a simple task and stick to that plan. Especially with the car as nervous as he seemed to be. Who knew why... It wasn't as if they were doing anything illegal. They were just going into a diner that happened to be open. Though Seth was a bundle of nerves.

He hadn't wanted anything to do with the town. To the point of near panic.

Now he was 'Standing guard' while she did her own investigating. Which wasn't going so well either...

"It's government experiments. This has got to be stopped."

Upon approaching one truck's voice in particular caught her attention as she approached the bar, a frown crossing her grill. It seemed one hunter was rallying the other's for support maybe... A hunter green Chevy was pacing back and forth in front of the bar, addressing the other patrons. She wasn't entirely sure what point he was trying to make as she settled in to listen.

"First two of our own go missing up in those woods. We've been losing fuel from the pumps for weeks. Supplies are going missing right and left and now... NOW this monster shows up in town. No I don't know about you all but I'm a little concerned about this. Just what is up there?"

Well that didn't sound good... Had they seen one of the humans during a run? Sally frowned and gave a deep sigh as she nosed her way just a bit closer, trying to see just what was going on.

"My guess is some kinda government experiment." The truck went on, gaining a mixed review on his rather political view point.

"Man it's aliens. The government couldn't pull this off!" Another opinion was shot back and the voices around Sally rose up again as they argued back and forth over the origins of whatever the hell they had found.

"Might be some natural mutation. Some reaction to the pollution in the air." The suggestion had been shot off from a young mini van beside Sally. Her suggestion went mostly ignored, the suggestion that they themselves were to blame not exactly going well.

Sally shook her head and turned her attention to the pale blue van who now had a deep set frown across her grill. "Excuse me... What are they going on about?"

The van blinked quietly as her attention pulled to Sally. "Wow... You're not from around here are ya?"

"Next town over." Sally explained with a shrug.

"Ah... Guess that would explain it. One of those hunters shot some kind of monster in the woods. Never seen anything like it..."

Sally blinked and gave a slight shudder. Shot a monster? That didn't sound good... "Did they hit it?"

The van blinked and gave her a strange look. "Huh?"

"Did they hit it? I mean... Did they kill it? Do you know?"

"Did we kill it?" The truck that had been the original speaker barked out a laugh as Sally's presence suddenly became very much the center of the conversation. Sally gave a hard swallow as she glanced around, not entirely certain if she shouldn't have rethought Seth's idea to stay outside and brought the Mustang in with her.

"Let me set it up for ya little lady." The truck cooed softly, the massive thing seeming rather content with having a lady's full and undivided attention as he recounted his story most likely for the hundredth time.

"It was just this afternoon. The light was perfect. Nice time of day... I was trudging through the woods just north of town and I saw it... A massive critter coming towards town. At least what I thought was a critter. So I get a little closer and sure enough. This thing is huge. Well I line up the shot all careful like. And BOOM! Nail the thing dead center. Then somethin' incredible happened. The lower part of the critter and the upper part of the critter split up. It just up and shed half of it. Then I figured out somethin'... I'm thinkin' there were two critters."

"Figure that out all by yourself?" Sally questioned flatly, not to impressed with the truck even if she didn't already know what was going on. Still though... A knot of concern was growing in the pit of her fuel tank.

"So... The gist of that is you didn't kill it?" The van parked beside Sally mused.

"No" The truck stated flatly with a wry smirk. "The gist is I only killed one of them."

Sally held her breath for a moment, glancing back behind the truck to where an old tarp was covering something rather small. Already she could feel that dread starting to build.

"Oh really..." The van mused. "Funny we've yet to see this... Monster you keep talking about."

"Oh little lady... I just wanted to wait for everyone to gather. So... My friends... Feast your eyes on this!" With that the truck snapped back the tarp. There were a few screams in the crowed at the unknown creature, though all Sally could do was stare.

It was a human... A human male if she judged correctly the differences she was noticing between this human and Joe... It had indeed been hit once. It looked like it had been shot in the back. Thick red fluid had pooled on the tarp beneath it, soaking through the cloth that covered it's upper and lower body. That seemed to have been it's undoing. She was guessing that the other creature the truck spoke of was one of those... Horse things that Joe had spoken of. When it lost it's rider it must have bolted.

"The way I figure it folks there's more of them up there. Somewhere in them woods. Don't know where... Maybe they live in trees. Maybe they fly. Maybe they live underground. Who knows? What I do know is that if there's one there's got to be more. The government can try and hide them all they want but now... Now we got proof! There's something up there in them woods!"

Sally quickly backed up as the truck started rising up for another rant, going on and on about government theories and just what it was up in those woods that was causing such a stir. She had to get Seth and then get home and report.

"Alright that's enough!" She froze at the powerful voice coming from the side of the bar, and pulled back up just a bit to see what was up. The county Sheriff had pulled up, the lower set vehicle eyeing the dead human thoughtfully.

"What we got here is just a pest. It hadn't hurt anyone and I'm willing to bet that whatever it is up in those hills it ain't no more dangerous than any other critter there is. So before you go off starting a panic, Chuck... Check your facts and lets see just what this thing is."

"Sheriff ain't no one gonna tell us what this thing is." The truck argued right back. "We have a right to protect our homes. This thing... For all we know might be poisonous. The government sure as hell ain't gonna tell us so it's up to us to find out just what's going on ourselves!"

"Is anything at all going on?" Sally suddenly spoke up. "That animal looks rather small. I mean... What if it's just a harmless forest creature?"

Sheriff Dawson turned his gaze to Sally, a rather odd look given as he tried to place her. She could see the dawn of realization coming from him when he finally did.

"A very long way from home aren't you ma'am?" He questioned, gaining a shrug from Sally.

"Change of scenery. The fool shooting his grill off and scaring the hell out of these poor people for nothing caught my interest."

Sheriff Daweson chuckled softly as he pulled into gear and rolled a bit closer. "Sally my dear, you have no idea. No I suggest you take it back to your own stompin' grounds and let me take care of my own backyard. Understand me? I don't need a backwater lawyer tellin' me how to do my job."

Sally gave a snort, not really bothering to deem that worthy of a response. She revered her engine and pulled off, grumpily rolling out the door to where Seth was waiting.

"Well?" The waiting Mustang was quick to approach as soon as Sally stepped through the doors of the diner. She sighed heavily and cast a glance behind her making certain no one would hear or step outside mid conversation as she motioned him to move on. As they started down the road she let out a slight shudder.

"Those hunters up there have shot and killed a human..."

Seth gave a deep sigh, speeding up just a bit as they zipped through a red light on their way out of town. "This isn't good.... I wonder who it is?"

"I have no idea... Whoever it is though Joe won't be happy about this..."

"To say the least..." Seth muttered softly to himself, his voice fading off as the sound of a siren cut through the darkness. Seth and Sally glanced back behind them with a soft groan as the red and blue lights of a police car awakened behind them.

"Three guesses who that is..." Sally muttered softly as she slowly pulled over to the side of the road with Seth right behind her.

For several moments all they could see of the mystery car was the steady strobe of emergency lights atop the vehicle though as it came up beside them the black and white paint job of Sheriff Dawson became more and more clear.

Sally heaved out a heavy sigh and twisted around just a bit to face the Co. Sheriff as Seth backed up just a bit behind her.

"Alright you two... I wanna know what you're up to. Kinda far from home aincha?" Dawson demanded as soon as he pulled up alongside Sally.

"All we did was come to a very public diner. I don't see the harm in that." Sally snapped right back, as Seth took a peek around her, his dark hide mostly hidden in the dim lighting.

"Ain't no harm so long as ya don't plan on sticking around to long. Now what are you up to?" Dawson questioned, his gaze shifting from Sally to Seth, a frown crossing his grill as if attempting to put two and two together.

"Like I said. We're just out for a drive and wanted to stop into the diner. It was a little crowded for us so we're moving on. That's all." Sally stated flatly, causing Seth to give a little nod from behind her.

"Oh really..." Sheriff Dawson muttered, his full attention suddenly turning to Seth. "Who's that back there with you?"

"Oh leave Seth alone." Sally stated flatly. "He never even came inside."

"Seth..." Sheriff Dawson muttered with a slight frown 'cross his grill. "Sheriff Carson's boy?"

Sally opened her mouth to speak, though from behind her she felt Seth pull himself together just a bit and step into the light of Sheriff Dawson's Headlights. "I wouldn't be sticking my grill where it doesn't belong if I were you Sheriff Dawson... Don't you owe me something?"

To Sally's surprise Sheriff Dawson suddenly paled several shades and stumbled back as if he had seen a ghost. Seth only offered a smirk and rolled back behind Sally again.

"You two carry on..." Dawson muttered, quickly pulling off and heading back down the road without another word.

Sally stared down the road where Sheriff Dawson had gone until the red dots of his tail lights disappeared into the darkness, still not entirely sure what had happened.

"Can we go now?" Seth muttered, shaking Sally out of her thoughts as she turned her attention back to Seth.

"What was that all about?"

"What was what all about Sally?" Seth muttered, causing Sally to blink in surprise.

"What does Sheriff Dawson owe you?"

Seth only stared at her for a few long moments, seeming to be considering whether or not Sally had truly lost her mind. "Nothing that I know of... He's just a creepy ol' car..."

"But you said he owed you something." Sally protested.

"When did I say that?"

"Just now Seth. You said, 'I wouldn't be sticking my grill where it doesn't belong if I were you Sheriff Dawson... Don't you owe me something?' So what does he owe you?"

Seth gave Sally a rather blank look and shrugged. "Sally... I didn't say anything to Sheriff Dawson... And that I know of he doesn't owe me a thing. I like to keep my distance from him if I can..."

Sally rolled her eyes and pulled off down the street once more, with Seth right behind her as she went on. "Seth I know what I heard."

"I'm sure you do Sally... But I know what I said and I didn't say anything to Sheriff Dawson. I stayed behind you the whole time..."

Sally gave a harsh huff and dropped the subject, irritation driving her on as a confused Seth fell into line behind her. They drove the rest of the way in silence, one irritated and one entirely confused...

XXXXXXXXXXX

The lights of town couldn't have come on fast enough for the two speeding sports cars. Sally quickly broke off from Seth, leaving the Mustang to his own devices as she headed off to find Doc and report what she had seen. She quickly ducked through the main doors, in a rush into Doc's clinic, skidding to a halt in surprise when she came face to face with a strange human upon the door opening.

Nic gave out a yelp as he backed up quickly, dropping whatever it was that had been grasped in his hands with a clatter and quickly darted back behind a rolling cart in the back of the clinic before Sally could get so much as a squeak out.

"Sally?" The stunned silence was broken as Doc came back into the clinic with a puzzled look.

"Sorry Doc..." Sally muttered with a sigh and turned her full attention back to Doc for the first time noticing that Sheriff was close behind.

"Where's Seth?" Doc questioned, for a few moments looking a little perplexed. He had figured both would be there to give a report once they returned, though it seemed Seth had at some point left the duo.

"I don't know, somewhere in town. Anyway there was a big ruckus going on over at the diner in the next town over. A bunch of hunters gathering..."

"And?" Doc prodded on, getting the feeling a bunch of hunters gathering together and drinking themselves silly wasn't the end of it, though at the moment he dearly wished it could be...

"They managed to shoot one of the humans up in the woods."

"What did the human look like?" The others were startled to a brief silence as Nic came out of hiding, the pale human leveling an even stare on Sally. Above him on the rack Blair cast his full attention on them, the Mustang wanting just as badly to know just what was going on.

"I..." Sally stammered for a moment, struggling to picture the human. It wasn't as if they were as easily recognizable as cars were... "The fluff on top of his head was really dark... That's about all I can tell you."

Nic frowned deeply and glanced up at Blaire who sighed. "Do you think?" Nic almost squeaked.

"It's possible..." Blaire offered with a somewhat miserable note.

"Know who it is?" Doc questioned slowly, his attention turning to the two.

"We haven't been able to find David all day..." Nic ventured slowly. "He went out on a supply run. Everyone else is accounted for that I know of..."

"A supply run during the day?" Sally mused softly, the danger in that obvious enough to her.

"Not much of a choice I'd wager..." Blaire muttered softly. "It's been getting pretty desperate for fuel..."

Nic frowned deeply and nodded his agreement, the human biting down hard on his lower lip. "The situation's become a lot more desperate within' the past couple days... David went out with the dawn... It's been getting so dangerous to travel at night with all the hunters in the area. He thought maybe traveling by day and keeping to the wooded areas might give him some form of advantage..."

"What advantage would that be?" Blaire questioned, pulling a sigh from Nic.

"I don't know... I think he just felt he had to do something." Nic mused quietly. "Has anyone seen Joe?"

"She went off to find her sibling. Then she was coming back here." Sheriff supplied, gaining another nod from Nic.

"Then we need to find out for sure."

There were no arguments there. Only a few nods in agreement.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright Mater... You know what to do?" The tow truck grinned and nodded so fast his passenger let out a startled yelp, causing Doc to briefly reconsider their little plan.

It was a simple one. Someone needed to get in close to identify the body. Nic was the best choice they had a the moment. However, he couldn't exactly walk up and ask to see. Therefore, their best option was to smuggle him in. Mater was the only one among them that could easily hide a human in the back. Therefore, that was where Nic was... Curled up near the hitch where the tow hook was attached, covered by an old tarp among all the other junk Mater tended to throw in the back bed.

"Mater you're going to have to drive a little more carefully than you normally do. Try not to jar your passenger to much." Doc scolded gently, gaining a grateful look from where Nic peeked over the edge of Mater's back bed.

"You'll be fine back there Nic. Just keep your head down." Doc offered gently and backed off again, a smile crossing his grill as Mater started out at a quick pace. This was going to be interesting...

XXXXXXXXXXX

It was well into dawn by the time they regathered. The sun crept up over the mountain tops, sending rays of warming light across Radiator Springs. Mid morning sun fell across the silvery hide of a young Mustang, the vehicles attention intent on the road as he stared down the street.

"You're not suppose to be on your tires yet."

Silence was all that was met with. Doc rolled his eyes as he came up beside Blaire, a rather sour look given to the Mustang.

"You should be on the lift. How did you get yourself down from there anyway?"

"Talent." That was the only answer he would offer. The only thing he could think to say.

"Why are you out here? They'll get here when they get here. You can't force along the issue."

"I have a feeling." Blaire muttered softly after a time. "The same feeling I always get when things take a turn for the worse."

Doc gave the other car a puzzled look, and silently pulled out just a bit, following his steady gaze up the street. "A feeling..."

"I think things are going to change after today." Blaire muttered softly. "I think David is dead... I think the realization will change Joe. I don't think they're safe here anymore."

"Blaire... All of that is worrying needlessly over things you really don't need to worry about." Doc scolded gently. "Now get in here and get back to-" He was cut off abruptly as Blaire started his engine, the Mustang's full attention on the edge of town. Mater was coming back. He was hitting a fast pace on the edge of town, moving faster up along the ridge.

Doc quietly passed Blaire, leaving him at the clinic as Mater came into town, the tow truck looking a rare form of character. He seemed rather troubled...

As soon as the vehicle came to a complete stop, Nic was already untangling himself from the tarps and making his way out.

"Well?" Doc called over, gaining a rather weary look from Nic.

"There's soldiers in that there town!" Mater blurted out, looking a bit stunned.

Doc's eyes widened a bit, a glance cast towards the mountains. They had to be wrong about that... What in God's name was going on over there?

XXXXXXXXXXX

"You forgot."

"I did not forget!"

The argument had been fairly steady since they left town. Sarge and Sheriff trudged through the undergrowth and bushes, a rather sour mood between the two of them. They were suppose to be doing this in the dark. However, the dawn had crept up on them a bit faster than they thought it would.

"You did to!" Sarge snapped, gaining an almost predatory growl from Sheriff.

"I did not forget." He repeated irritably.

"We were suppose to do this hours ago!" Sarge scolded.

"I know!"

The argument wouldn't stop. Not until they reached their destination and it was forced to.

"You forgot two trucks in a hole! Good lord Sheriff, what were you thinking?"

Sheriff rolled his eyes and growled once more. Honestly he truly had forgotten about them in the aftermath of all that they had learned in the past twenty four hours. However, he wasn't going to tell Sarge that... Not that he didn't already know...

"I didn't forget them!" Alright so he would have remembered eventually...

"Oh come on Sheriff you might buy that yourself but-"

Sheriff rolled his eyes at Sarge's sudden silence and turned around. "What Sarge? What am I buying myself?"

"Shhh!"

Sheriff gave a blink as Sarge shushed him and quickly gestured for him to get down. Sheriff backed up into the underbrush followed quickly by Sarge himself, taking cover. For several minutes they waited in complete silence. Sheriff gave a deep sigh, just about to pass it off as one of Sarge's oddities and ask him just why they were hiding when he finally heard the same sound Sarge had.

The very soft sound of engines rumbling. They exchanged a look and quietly the two crept out of hiding, moving slowly along the trail they had come across. The caravan was down in the valley, though from where they were once they came out onto an out crop they could get a good look at them.

"That's a military caravan." Sarge nearly breathed out, looking just a bit stunned to see it.

"You sure?" Sheriff whispered, tilting just a bit on his frame.

"Yes... It's just the way I remembered it..."

Sheriff cursed softly and backed up from the overcrop. Just what they needed... He had halfway known it was probably going to be coming if someone actually found a human. This was still a shock.

"Come on... We'd better get back and let Doc know." Sheriff muttered softly, backing up and heading quickly back towards town with Sarge hot on his tail.

If they headed out at a swift pace they could get back to town by midmorning. They needed to know what was going on and they needed to know fast.

"Sheriff?" Sarge's voice broke through his thoughts causing him to slow down just a bit. "What is it Sarge?"

"You forgetting something?"

Sheriff bellowed out a curse and slammed on his breaks, nearly sending Sarge right into his tail lights. He pulled a 180 heading back the other way.

He forgot the dang hunters again...

He picked up speed, hitting fifty on the flat with Sarge right behind him, rare hysterical laughter from the jeep ringing out.


End file.
